Prevalence of vertical malocclusion in patients aged 5 to 9 years who attended the dental school of the university of Cuenca in the period 2019-2023

Objective: To determine the prevalence of vertical malocclusion in patients aged 5 to 9 years who attended the clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Cuenca in the period 2019-2023, by reviewing clinical records. Materials and methods A retrospective observational study of 615 orthodontic clinical records was carried out, using Excel and SPSS software to determine the prevalence of malocclusion in the vertical plane, considering the variables of age, sex, type of vertical malocclusion and side involved according to the type of vertical malocclusion (left or right).
Result:  In the present study a universe of 616 records was obtained, of which 317 met the inclusion criteria, 77 records presented vertical malocclyusion (24.25%) and 240 records did not present vertical malocclusion (75.71%), of the 77 records 40 belonged to the male sex (51.95%) and 37 records corresponded to the female sex (48.05%). According to the type of vertical malocclusion, there were 41 patients with overbite (53.25%), 32 patients with open bite (41.56%) and 4 patients with edge-to-edge bite (5.19%). As for the side involved, the overbite was greater on both right and left sides in 28 patients (36.36%), the open bite was greater on both right and left sides in 24 patients (31.17%). Edge-to-edge bite was higher on the right side affecting 2 patients (2.59%). Finally, according to age, there was a higher prevalence at 7 and 8 years of age, affecting 25 patients.
Conclusion: According to the results obtained in the clinical records, there was a higher prevalence in males, overbite was the most prevalent type of vertical malocclusion and in most cases the side involved was both the right and left side, according to age there was a higher prevalence at 7 and 8 years of age.