Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Dentistry, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Sep 12;16(18):3383. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16183383.
Our study is based on the hypothesis that the prevalence of malocclusions in children is higher in the mining areas from North-Western (NW) Romania than in other geographic areas. We also considered that the distribution of the different types of malocclusions can be correlated with environmental factors. Therefore, the main purpose of the current study was to assess the prevalence of malocclusions in children from the mining areas in NW Romania. Another purpose was to establish the influence of certain environmental factors such as gender, geographical area of origin, and ethnicity on the distribution of malocclusions in order to provide an epidemiological reference for the planning of preventive and treatment programs adapted to the particularity of the mining areas. This cross-sectional study was performed in 2015-2016. The study batch consisted of 960 children from the mining areas, aged 7-14 years, in the period of mixed dentition and early permanent dentition. The clinical examination was conducted by a single examiner, an orthodontic specialist (TBI), in order to avoid inter-operator bias. Occlusion was registered according to Bjoerk. Occlusal clinical signs were followed for the determination of malocclusions. Most children had malocclusions (93.5%). The percentage of anomalies was significantly higher in subjects from Rosia Montana, in girls, and in the Romanians. Data showed that Angle Class I was the most prevalent malocclusion (60.21%), followed by crowding (47.5%), midline shift (43.33%), and deep bite (28.65%). The independent association between ethnicity and total malocclusions shows that the Romanian subjects presented a 3.31 higher chance of developing malocclusions than the Romani ones. The presence of malocclusions was independently influenced by all the studied environmental factors, namely gender, geographical area, and ethnicity. Our results could be relevant for oral health policy-making, i.e., planning preventive and treatment measures of malocclusions, adapted to the peculiarity of the studied mining areas.
我们的研究基于这样一个假设，即在罗马尼亚西北部（NW）的矿区，儿童错颌畸形的患病率高于其他地理区域。我们还认为，不同类型的错颌畸形的分布可以与环境因素相关。因此，本研究的主要目的是评估罗马尼亚西北部矿区儿童的错颌畸形患病率。另一个目的是确定某些环境因素（如性别、原籍地理区域和种族）对错颌畸形分布的影响，以便为规划适应矿区特殊性的预防和治疗计划提供流行病学参考。这项横断面研究于 2015-2016 年进行。研究对象为处于混合牙列和早期恒牙列的矿区 960 名 7-14 岁儿童。临床检查由一名正畸专家（TBI）进行，以避免操作者间的偏差。咬合按照 Björk 进行记录。为了确定错颌，对咬合的临床特征进行了随访。大多数儿童都有错颌（93.5%）。在罗西亚蒙大拿、女孩和罗马尼亚人中，异常的比例显著更高。数据显示，Angle 类I 是最常见的错颌（60.21%），其次是拥挤（47.5%）、中线偏移（43.33%）和深覆颌（28.65%）。种族与总错颌之间的独立关联表明，罗马尼亚人出现错颌的几率比罗姆人高 3.31 倍。错颌的存在独立受到所有研究环境因素的影响，即性别、地理区域和种族。我们的研究结果可能对口腔健康政策制定具有重要意义，即规划适应研究矿区特殊性的错颌预防和治疗措施。
