Association Of Mandibular Arch Crowding And Vertical Growth Pattern - A Retrospective Study

Dental arch crowding is one of the most common malocclusions encountered in daily practice by an orthodontist. The most common reason that motivates patients to seek orthodontic treatment is anterior crowding as it has a significant aesthetic problem. A retrospective study was conducted in a dental hospital from July 2019 till March 2020 to evaluate the prevalence of dental arch crowding in subjects with vertical growth patterns in the Chennai population. A sample of 127 subjects with vertical growth patterns were selected from the case records of patients who reported to the University Hospital for orthodontic treatment. Mandibular arch crowding was classified into mild, moderate and severe crowding and cross verified with photographs. All the data was tabulated and analyzed using SPSS Version 20. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square tests were performed. The overall prevalence of mandibular arch crowding in subjects with vertical growth patterns was 72%. Crowding was common in males (54.3%) than females (45.7%). Mild crowding (48%) was more prevalent followed by moderate crowding (27.6%) and severe crowding (24.4%). Mandibular arch crowding was more common in adults (44.9%) followed by adolescents (31.5%) and children (23.6%). No statistically significant association between age, gender and type of malocclusion of subjects with severity of crowding was noted (p>0.05). It can be concluded that the prevalence of crowding in subjects with vertical growth patterns was 72% and no differences among age, gender and type of malocclusion with crowding was noted.