INTRODUCTION: It is possible to define the facial morphology and growth pattern in early ages, starting from mature deciduous dentition. AIM: Due to the lack of studies about this issue in the deciduous dentition, the current paper aims to present the epidemiologic diagnosis of the face in this stage of the occlusal development. METHODS: The sample was comprised of 2,009 Brazilian children aged between 3 and 6 years, all in the deciduous dentition, from 20 schools in Bauru/SP. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Based on results of epidemiologic study, the lateral norm analysis showed a prevalence of 63.22% of Pattern I children in relation to Pattern II (33.10%) and to Pattern III (3.68%), without statistically significant differences as to gender. In the frontal analysis, the mesofacial type was predominant (64.56%) in relation to dolichofacial (21.90%) and to brachyfacial types (13.54%), the last being predominant in girls. When the frontal type was related to the sagittal pattern, it was noticed that the dolichofacial type was more frequent in Patterns II and III. In Pattern I the brachyfacial type was more frequent and the dolichofacial type was less frequent in females.
Face; Dental occlusion; Deciduous tooth; Epidemiology
