Background

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) has negative influence on children’s development and well-being. Malocclusion due to some craniofacial anatomical characteristics may be associated with SDB.

Objectives

The aim of this paper is to ascertain if SDB is associated with malocclusion in children/adolescents, aged 6–15 years compared to healthy controls.

Methods

Prospero ID: CRD42021232103. A systematic electronic literature search following PRISMA was performed in PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library. Inclusion criteria were: Healthy children/adolescents aged 6–15 years with malocclusion undergoing polysomnography (PSG) or polygraphy (PG) and/or sleep questionnaire and orthodontic screening; compared to a healthy age-matched control group with neutral or minor deviation in the occlusion without requirement for orthodontic treatment; publications in English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish published until March 23, 2021. JBI Critical Appraisal Tools and GRADE were used to evaluate the risk of bias and level of evidence.

Results

The search resulted in 1,996 records, 610 duplicates were removed, 1,386 records were screened, and 1,322 records were excluded. Sixty-four studies were selected for full-text reading, and four publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The included studies had moderate risk of bias and the quality of evidence was low.

Conclusion

No firm conclusion can be drawn regarding an association between specific malocclusion traits and SDB. Thus, the studies found no association between molar relationship and crowding and SDB symptoms in children. It may be recommended that future studies include objective PSG or PG in diagnosis of SDB and compare groups of children with skeletal malocclusion and controls with neutral malocclusion.