Prevalencia de hábitos bucales y sus consecuencias en escolares de San Eduardo, Guayaquil – Ecuador, 2023.

Abstract

Introduction: Oral habits are patterns of oral behavior formed through constant repetition and can be classified into functional and parafunctional habits. Functional habits include chewing, swallowing, speech, and breathing. On the other hand, parafunctional habits involve actions contrary and unnecessary to the functional ones, such as digital suction, atypical swallowing, tongue interposition, mouth breathing, bruxism, and nail-biting. Objective: To determine the prevalence of parafunctional oral habits and their consequences among schoolchildren in San Eduardo, Guayaquil – Ecuador, 2023. Materials and Methods: Clinical, observational, cross-sectional descriptive study with a prospective approach conducted on patients aged 4 to 7 years attending the “Por la Gracia de Dios” and “Alejo Lascano” Schools. Results: The prevalence of parafunctional oral habits was 65%, the most common non-physiological habit was atypical swallowing in 48% and 52% of the schoolchildren presented class II malocclusion. Conclusion: a large percentage of schoolchildren present parafunctional oral habits, for this reason it is important to diagnose parafunctional oral habits from an early age to be able to intercept them in both temporary and early mixed dentition and thus have fewer consequences in the functional part and in the facial appearance of growing children.