Prevalence of Thumb and Finger Sucking and Tongue Thrust Swallowing in School Children

Thumb and finger sucking and tongue thrust swallowing are the most common habit in the children. Prevention can decrease the rate of malocclusions in people. This study was done to determine the rate of thumb and finger sucking and tongue thrust in Shiraz elementary schools. This study was done in 2001 in 20 schools from all education and training organization districts of Shiraz. By multi-stage random sampling, 500 children aged 7 to 12 were selected for interviewing and filling questionnaires. The incidence of thumb and finger sucking was 38.4%.The incidence of tongue thrusting was 29.8%. There was no significant correlation between the prevalence of oral habits and sex of children. Oral habits were more prevalent in young children.About half of the tongue thrusters had anterior open bite. Both digit sucking and tongue thrusting habits were significantly correlated with increased overjet. The prevalence of upper incisors spacing and lower incisors crowding were significantly higher in thumb suckers children. In children with thumb finger sucking habit, occlusal disorders like labial tilt of upper incisors and lingual tilt of lower incisors and overjet were more prevalent. About half of the tongue thrusters had an anterior open bite. There was no significant correlation between the prevalence of these oral habits and sex of children.