title: Oral habits in a population of Albanian growing subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of oral habits in an Albanian population of schoolchildren.
  
  
  METHODS
  
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 2617 subjects, aged 7-15, was examined by clinical observation without radiograms. The sample comprised 1257 males and 1360 females, with no history of orthodontic treatment. Aestethical frontal and profile analysis, intraoral and functional analysis were performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gender and age differences were compared by chi-square test. The relationship between malocclusions and oral habits was assessed by t-test and the level of significance was assessed at 0.01.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings indicated that oral habits were present in 2225 subjects (85.0%), 1103 males (87.7%) and 1121 females (82.4%); the most frequent oral habit was pacifier sucking (30%) and it was mostly present in the 7-11 years group. It was observed a significant correlation between oral habits and dental malocclusions, open bite, altered overjet and maxillary contraction. CONCLUSION The high number of oral habits observed in the studied sample suggest that prevention strategies adopted in other countries could be successfully integrated in the development of an effective national programme in Albania aimed at reducing malocclusion risk factors.
authors: Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Laganà
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Fabi
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Abazi
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Beshiri Nastasi
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Vinjolli
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Cozza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000415:Albania / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005386:Fingersucking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009058:Mouth Breathing / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D024343:Open Bite / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D041361:Pacifiers / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D014061:Tongue Habits / Q000009:adverse effects*