Denti ção decídua; Má oclusão; Epidemiologia. Denti ti on, primary; Malocclusion; Epidemiology. Objecti ve: To evaluate the normal occlusal characteristi cs and malocclusions in the primary denti ti on in children aged 2 to 5 years in the city of João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. Method: The probabilisti c sample was composed of 350 children att ending Children Educati on Reference Centers. The clinical examinati ons were done by a calibrated single examiner. The normal occlusal characteristi cs followed the Baume's classifi cati on (types of dental arch, presence of primate spaces and types of terminal plane relati onships of the primary second molars). The SBBrasil criteria were used to determine the index of malocclusion (IM). Data were analyzed stati sti cally (p<0.05) Results: There was higher prevalence of type I arch in the maxillary (75.7%) and mandibular (74.8%) arches, without associati on between the type of arch and gender or age group of the children. Primate spaces were observed in 96.9% of the maxillary and 78.6% of the mandibular arches. The occurrence of primate spaces was more frequent in the maxillary than in the mandibular arch (p<0.01), without stati sti cal signifi cance for gender in the maxilla, but with signifi cance in the mandible (p<0.05). There was higher frequency of the mesial terminal step (56.3%), followed by straight (30.6%) and distal (4.6%). There was no associati on between terminal plane relati onship and gender of the children, by associati on was found between gender and age group (p<0.01). The IM showed that 56% of the preschoolers had normal occlusion, 12.3% had mild occlusal disorders, and 317% had moderate/severe occlusal disorders, without stati sti cally signifi cant diff erence between genders, and a signifi cant decrease (p<0.01) in the moderate/severe conditi on with the increase of age. Conclusion: The majority of the children had favorable characteristi cs for the normal development of occlusion in the denti ti on primary, in spite of the high prevalence of moderate/ severe occlusal disorders.