Prevalence of Parafunctional Habits Among Adults of Janakpur SubMetropolitan City

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with parafunctional habits, particularly bruxism represents a serious behavioral dental problem worldwide. Teeth and dental prosthesis are significantly harmed by these parafunctional activities. There is no exact data on the prevalence of parafunctional habits among Nepalese. The aim of the study was to identify various types of oral parafunctional habits among the adult population of Janakpur SubMetropolitan City.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 276 adults of Janakpur Sub-Metropolitan City from September 2025 to December 2025. Convenience sampling technique was used. A questionnaire was used for collecting presence and abasence of habits followed by a clinical examination was also done. The Statistical analysis was performed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science 16.

Results: Among total 276 adults examined in the study, 56.2% were males and 44% were females. The mean age ± S.D. was 36.69 ± 10.84 years and 69.9 % of the adults had parafunctional habits. The most prevalent parafunctional habit was nocturnal tooth grinding, which was reported by 150 (54.3%) of participants. Wear facer was observed among 159 (56.7%) of participants while linea alba was present among 68 (24.6%) of participants.

Conclusions: The study provides baseline information on the distribution and patterns of parafunctional habits among adults of Janakpur. There was high prevalence of parafunctional habits among the adults, and the nocturnal tooth grinding was the more among the different habits.