A Study on Incidence and Risk factors of Mouth-Breathing Pre-School Children in Tabriz

Mouth breathing has been noticed as an etiologic factor for malocclusion. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of mouth breathing among children aged 5-6 years living in Tabriz city during autumn 2006. In this study with clustered sampling manner, 550 subjects of preschool children from five different districts of Tabriz city with age group of 5-6, were evaluated. The collected questionnaires completed by their parents. After recognition of the children with mouth breathing signs, they were referred to the ear, throat and nose specialist for clinical examination. The collected data were analyzed on a computer using SPSS. Descriptive statically analysis was used to data evaluation. The Prevalence of mouth breathing problem in this population was at least 18/32%. Most important risk factors were reported as follows: Allergy 80%, adenoid and tonsil hypertrophy 15%, other risk factors like deviation of the nasal septum and anatomic disorders about 5%. Allergy was devoted to allergic rhinosinositis with prevalence of 54%. The results of this survey demonstrated that there is about 18/32% prevalence of the mouth breathing among the preschool children in Tabriz city and the most distinguished risk factors is allergy. Since allergy is a treatable disease and had the highest prevalence in the present study, its proper treatment could be effective in decreasing mouth breathing. Early recognition of the mouth breathing can prevent its adverse effects on dentofacial growth, and its treatment can prevent from its more complications.