India lacks baseline epidemiologic data on the prevalence of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment needs among school children. Considering the fact that there is an urgent need for more epidemiologic data in this field we conducted this study in the suburban areas of Chennai. Objective: To assess the prevalence of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment needs among school children in the age group of 11 to 14 years. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in school children in the age range of 11 to 14 years across 4 schools in the sub urban area of Chennai .1001 school students in age range of 11-14 years (Mean-12.75), comprising of 614 males (61.3%) and 387 females (38.7%) were screened for Crowding, Open bite ,Deep bite, Cross bite, Angle?s Class I Malocclusion, Angle?s Class II Malocclusion and Angle?s Class III Malocclusion. Results: The results from our study indicates nearly 73.2% of thesubjects had malocclusion out of which 88.3% had Class I malocclusion. Most of the subjects had crowding followed by deep bite. Conclusion: The data obtained in this pilot study will serve as baseline data for future studies in an Indian scenario and more importantly the results of our study can be used to other developing nations and .We also propose that the Indian population with its inherent diversity can serve as a reference population to study the multifactorial influences in the development and course of various malocclusions. Also these facts can validate all the indices which have been developed as we have studied the pattern at a more descriptive level