title: Prevalence of oral habits in 563 Nigerian preschool children age 3-5 years.
abstract: One of the contributory factors in the establishment of occlusion is the child's oral habits. A limited amount of information is available on oral habits of pre-school children especially on Nigerian pre-school children. With an increasing interest in the early recognition of mal-occlusion and a corresponding emphasis on preventive procedures, more information on pre-school children may prove to be useful. This study revealed the prevalence of oral habits among 563 Nigerian pre-school children aged 3-5 years at 13.14%: 6.74% for males, 6.4%for females. The acquired data were tested with chi-square(chi2). The results indicate significant gender difference for tongue thrusting/sucking only (P=0.01) using the fisher's exact test. The relationship between digital sucking habit and mal-occlusion was very significant (P<0.01).
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Onyeaso
authors.forename: E O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Sote
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005386:Fingersucking / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009259:Nail Biting / Q000523:psychology; D009549:Nigeria; D009909:Oral Health; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013391:Sucking Behavior; D014061:Tongue Habits / Q000523:psychology