Prevalence of malocclusion and abnormal oral habits in North Indian rural children.

This epidemiological investigation was conducted on a sample of 3164 rural children aged 6-15 years in Raipur Rani and Naraingarh blocks in the district of Ambala in Haryana. 29. 2 percent of rural children were found to have malocclusion whereas 70.8 per cent had normal occlusion. Class I malocclusion was found to be maximum in 14.4 per cent of children, while malocclusion with class II molar relationship was observed in 13.5 per cent of children. Malocclusion with Class III molar relationship was seen in 1.3 per cent of the population studied. Three per cent of rural children were found to have abnormal oral habits, predominantly tongue thrusting and thumb sucking. The frequency distribution of abnormal oral habits in children with malocclusion was found to be 10.3 per cent.