Prevalence of malocclusion in children aged 12 to 36 months in João Pessoa, Paraíba state

Aim: This study aimed to verify the prevalence of malocclusion in children aged 12 to 36 months, attending public daycare centers in the city of Joao Pessoa, Paraiba. Methods: The sample consisted of 292 children, 161 boys (55.1%) and 131 girls (44.9%) randomly selected from various daycare centers. They were all examined in their daycare centers environments under natural illumination and the findings entered into a pre-structured form, carried out by one calibrated examiner (Kappa = 0.85), concerning overbite, overjet, anterior open bite and posterior crossbite. The data were analyzed through the statistical program SPSS. Results and Conclusions: The prevalence of malocclusion in the sample was 40.7%, with anterior open bite detected in 35.6%, posterior crossbite in 5.1%, and moderate overjet and overbite in 35.5% and 24.7%, respectively. With the development of the occlusion, the prevalence of anterior open bite increased, with the results draw attention to the magnitude of the problem in childhood.