Malocclusion and Occlusal Traits of Trainee Dental Surgery Technicians in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: An individual's occlusal status is generally described by two major characteristics; intra-arch and inter-arch relationship. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of normal occlusal traits and different types of malocclusions among trainee dental surgery technicians undergoing clinical posting at the Orthodontic unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among trainee dental surgery technicians undergoing clinical posting at the orthodontic unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. 100 (One hundred) constituted the study population. The study participants were assessed by one examiner (JON) at the orthodontic clinic of the Hospital. Intraexaminer reliability (kappa score) was 0.80, indicating a good agreement. Assessment of the antero-posterior relationship of
the arches was based on Angle's classification. Data was computed and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 software. Statistical
significance was set at P<0.05.
Results: There were 11 (11%) males and 89 (89%) females. The mean age of the participants was 21.87±3.17 years. The
prevalence of normal occlusal traits was 22.0 % and class I malocclusion was 51.0 % among the study participants. Prevalence
of Class II div 1 malocclusion was 17.0 %, Class II div 2 was 4.0 % and Class III was 6.0 %. There was crowding in 26.0 % of the population while 44.0 % had spacing.
Conclusion: Class I malocclusion was most prevalent, followed by Class II division 1 and Class III. Class II Div 2
malocclusion showed the least prevalence