Oral Habits and Occlusal characteristic in Preschool Children in KhartoumState
Background: Habits are acquired automatisms, represented by an altered pattern of muscle contraction with complex characteristics, which proceed unconsciously and in a regular basis. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of oral habits in preschool children 2 5 years old and to assess the correlation between habits and malocclusion. Material and method: A cross sectional study conducted by questionnaire and clinical examination for 417 preschool children aged 2 5 years using a stratified cluster random sampling technique. Chi square test in SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Results: Thumb sucking habit is the most common occurrence of oral habit (23.7% followed by mouth breathing (11.5% pacifier sucking (10.1% and tongue thrust (4.3% All the habits were more frequent among 4 years of age. Anterior open bite was found to be (31% and high significant value with thumb sucking and mouth breathing (P value=0.000) A significant difference was recorded between thumb and pacifier sucking habit and cross bite (P value=0.00) Conclusion: Oral habits among a sample of Sudanese preschool children were found to be very frequent 48.9% Education program should be established for parents and preschool teachers about the sound effects of oral habit on occlusion.