The prevalence of malocclusion amongst Hong Kong male dental students

The prevalence of malocclusion and treatment need amongst young Chinese adults has not previously been documented in Hong Kong. One-hundred-and-eight Chinese male first year dental students were assessed using the Occlusal Index. It was found that 41.7 per cent of the 108 needed orthodontic treatment and 24.1 per cent needed comprehensive orthodontic treatment to correct major malocclusions. The most commonly occurring feature was crowding (38.9 per cent), followed by Class II malocclusion (21.3 per cent), and Class III malocclusion (14.8 per cent).