Prevalence of Dental Crowding in the Kabul Dental Hospital, Kabul-Afghanistan

Background: Dental crowding, also called overcrowding, is a condition in which there is not enough space in the mouth for the steady growth of permanent teeth. Common problems that crowding can cause for a person include difficulty chewing food, speech problems, tooth decay, enamel loss, premature tooth loss, pressure on the jaws and pain, gingival resorption, and tenderness. Crowding always creates an unpleasant appearance for a person and even causes a person to be isolated from society and reduce self-confidence due to an ugly appearance. Crowding raises serious functional and aesthetic concerns for many patients. Aims: Conduct a descriptive study in this field with 1000 patients of the (OPD) Outpatient Department of Kabul Dental Hospital on the prevalence of crowding and to finding the relationship between the incidence of crowding according to the upper and lower jaws and the anterior and posterior segments of each jaw. Methods and materials: The sampling method were systematic random sampling that 1000 people were randomly selected from all OPD service clients during nine months and were included in the study. The required information was obtained by clinical examination of patients above the dental unit, under adequate light and the kit of dental examination equipment with direct clinical examination of the patient, and a pre-prepared questionnaire was inserted. The information obtained from the questionnaire reached the coding page, and it was entered into IBM_SPSS-25 software, and its analysis was performed. Results: From the results of this study, it was found that the prevalence of crowding was 59.1%, with the highest incidence of 28.6% in the lower jaw. Also, the highest rate of crowding events was 44.9% in the anterior segment of the mandible. Crowding events were received in the upper jaw 12.7%, with the highest incidence of 29.3% in the anterior segment.