Abstract

Any kind of stress has a negative effect on the mood of people and stress resulting from war is no exception. Stress from war has not only has effects on war veterans but also on the families. Children of these families have been more susceptible to abnormal oral habits. In this observational, analytical and historical research, attempts have been made to determine the prevalence of abnormal oral habits in the children of war veterans (martyrs, freed prisoners of war and war cripples) and compare them with a control group. In this study of 520 children aged between 7 and 11 years were (238 in the study group and 282 in the control group), information was gathered via a questionnaire completed by the mothers of the students. Analysis of the received information showed that the prevalence of para functional and abnormal oral habits was more in the study group (P = 0.005). The prevalence rate was highest in children, whose family members had been both crippled and freed prisoners of war, while the rate was lowest in children whose parents had been only prisoners of war without any lasting physical injury. Most of these children had acquired these habits at the age of seven and these abnormal habits were most prevalent in children aged eight and nine.