Prevalence of Tongue Thrusting in Indian Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies

Introduction: Oral habits such as tongue thrusting can cause deleterious effects on jaw growth and lead to malocclusion.Various studies have been done among various age-groups to check the prevalence of various oral habits.The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis (SRMA) is to assess the prevalence of tongue-thrusting habit in Indian children below 18 years of age.Materials and methods: Two researchers searched literature using appropriate keyword combinations in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar.Observational studies on prevalence of tongue-thrusting habit in Indian population below 18 years of age with full texts in English were included.Subgroup analysis was done based on region (Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chennai, and Karnataka).Result: In the meta-analysis based on 20 studies (N = 53,245), the percentage pooled prevalence was found to be 16.12 (CI: 9.12-24.64).All the results were statistically significant.Random effects model (REM) was used, as the heterogeneity (I 2 : 99.82) was high.Publication bias, assessed using tool by Hoy et al., was low. Conclusion:The prevalence of tongue thrusting in Indian children is 16.12%.The highest prevalence is seen in the state of Rajasthan, and the lowest is seen in Maharashtra state.