The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of oral habits and the correlation between the existing deleterious oral habit and the occurrence of malocclusion in school going children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: School going children (n=426) were screened for oral habits and the associated malocclusion present. 124 children (male = 71; female = 53) were found to have either a single habit or a combination of two or more habits. RESULTS: The results of the study shows 29% of prevalence of oral habits in the evaluated population with the highest frequency of thumb sucking (16.9%) and tongue thrusting(16.9%) followed by other oral habits and the most prevalent malocclusion is open bite (94.4%) followed by crossbite (76.6%) . CONCLUSION: Sucking habit, tongue thrusting and mouth breathing were found to be the major risk factor for the occurrence of malocclusion in school going children.