The prevalence of malocclusion among 14-18 years old students in Shiraz

Background and aim: malocclusions are major traits whose prevalence should be noticed, by gender, among highschool students to program oral health status in a society and clarify the needs and demands of this orthodontic field.methods: in a cross-sectional population-based study, using a stratified random cluster sampling design, a sample of1338 students of shiraz, aged 14-18 years from 15 high schools, located in four different regions of shiraz was obtainedand evaluated clinically for malocclusion traits. using tongue blades, researchers studied the students under normalroom illumination conditions.results: the overall prevalence of malocclusion was 23.70%. angle’s classes i, ii, and iii malocclusion wereobserved in 12.78%, 9.94%, and 0.97% of the samples, respectively. there was no statistically significant difference inthe overall prevalence of malocclusion between sexes. other malocclusion traits evaluated were edge-to-edge occlusion(4.78%), crossbite (1.93%), and open bite (1.19%).conclusion: the results of this study showed a high prevalence of malocclusion class i as well as an edge to edgemalocclusion trait. considering the findings, health care officials are expected to pay more attention to oral health fields.