Abstract
For the development of good occlusion and healthy dentition of children, it is very important to understand the influences of the dental caries experience and malocclusion on the development of the occlusal function during infancy. In order to investigate the occlusal function, a longitudinal study was carried on 64 infants, the occlusal contact area, the occlusal force the mean occlusal pressure were measured using Dental Prescal®, and the condition of the occlusion were evaluated for a period of over 3 years in this study/ Each of the measurements was classified according to condition of dental caries and occlusion, and then compared annually. The results were follows:
1. Growth changes of the occlusal contact area and, the occlusal force in the malocclusion df, the df⋅df⋅df, the anterior cross bite and the open-bite groups showed a lower increasing value than the normal occlusion CF, the CF⋅CF⋅CF and the normal occlusion groups. Themean occlusal pressure in the CF⋅CF⋅df group at the third year showed a higher value than previous years.
2. There are higher values at the occlusal contact area and the occlusal force in the normal occlusion CF, the CF⋅CF⋅CF, the normal occlusion and the deep overbite groups for each year. In contrast, the lower values were observed in the malocclusion df, the df⋅df⋅df, the anterior cross bite and the open-bite groups. The mean occlusal pressure indicated a higher value in the malocclusion df proup and the CF⋅CF⋅df, the anterior cross bite, the open-bite groups at the third year and a lower value was observed in the deep over-bite group at the third year observations.
These results suggested that the dental caries experience and the malocclusion influenced the development of the occlusal function while growing up. It was also confirmed that dental health care for children needed to be aimed at prevention of dental caries and elimination of factors causing malocclusion.
