Journal - Revista peruana de medicina experimental y salud pública (Peru )

Abstract :

We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study to assess the prevalence of malocclusions in children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years of villages and native communities of the Ucayali jungle of Peru. We assessed the presence of malocclusions using Angle's classification and orthodontic changes. We evaluated 201 individuals, 106 (52.7%) were women, most of them (54.7%) had between 6 and 12 years. The prevalence of malocclusions was 85.6%, the most prevalent according to Angle's classification was class I (59.6%). Orthodontic alterations were present in 67.2% of cases. The most frequent were dental crowding (28.4%), anterior crossbite (17.4%), exaggerated overjet (8.5%), excessive overbite (5.0%) and anterior open bite (5.0%). We found a high prevalence of malocclusion and orthodontic changes in the evaluated native communities, highlighting the need to implement preventive programs to improve the oral health of these neglected populations.