Changes in Breathing Mode, Sensory Profile and Malocclusions in Infant Patients

Objective: To verify the frequency of respiratory mode changes among children assisted at a dental school, as well as the impact of this condition on the oral processing of the individual in question, comparing data recorded in medical records and those obtained in clinical and functional examination.

Method: Cross-sectional study with descriptive and inferential treatment of data, developed with children undergoing dental treatment at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, northeast of Brazil and their mothers, during the first semester of 2019. These are in the age group of six to nine years. and in the mixed dentition phase, according to the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The project was approved by the UFPE Ethics Committee. For the statistical analysis a margin of error of 5% and the Fisher’s exact teste were adopted. Medical records and clinical and functional evaluations were considered regarding breathing mode, sensory profile and malocclusions.

Results: For a universe of 208 medical records, 33 (15.9%) had the record of respiratory alterations, with allergic rhinitis and asthma being the registered conditions. Among the children with respiratory alterations, 21.2% had mouth breathing, 18.2% had sleep alterations and 36.4% had malocclusions, with no reports of changes in sensory processing. After clinical examination and functional evaluation for the 33 children with respiratory disorders, 48.5% had sleep disorders, 97.0% had some sensory processing disorder and 81.8% had malocclusions, with significant differences between the records and the data obtained after the evaluations. The most frequent malocclusions were Angle Class I, open bite and unilateral crossbite.

Conclusion: There was a small record of respiratory changes in the records of children assisted by dentistry; however, most of these had malocclusions and disorders in sensory processing with implications for oral sensitivity.

Keywords: Malocclusion; Mouth breathing; Children; Sensation