After‐hours treatment of anterior dental trauma in Newcastle and western Sydney: a four‐year study

Abstract

This study investigated anterior dental trauma presenting after-hours in Newcastle and western Sydney. During the four-year period 1983-1986, all patients presenting with anterior dental injuries to the Royal Newcastle Hospital (n = 382) or Westmead Hospital (n = 362) on week nights, weekends or public holidays were studied. In both areas, upper central incisors were the teeth injured most frequently. The mean numbers of teeth injured per patient were 1.9 at Newcastle and 2.0 at Westmead. The frequencies of injury types found in Newcastle and Westmead were similar. Luxations and avulsions accounted for 39.5 per cent of injuries at Newcastle and 39.6 per cent at Westmead. In Newcastle, the rate of occurrence of trauma was highest and relatively uniform in the 6-11, 12-17 and 18-23 year age groups. At Westmead, it was highest in the 6-11 year age group, followed closely by the 12-17 year age group. In both centres, the four main causes of trauma were falls, assaults and fights, sports and bicycle accidents. These accounted for 69 per cent of all injuries in Newcastle and for 69.4 per cent at Westmead. This study found a great similarity between Newcastle and western Sydney in relation to the predominant age and sex groups affected, causes of trauma, injury types and numbers and locations of injured teeth per patient. It is suggested that anterior dental trauma presenting after-hours may be more severe, involve more teeth per patient and affect predominantly older age groups than is the situation during normal hours.

A Prospective Study of Dentoalveolar Trauma at the Hospital Das Clínicas, São Paulo University Medical School

“…The findings of this survey revealed that fall was the most frequent etiologic factor, corresponding to almost forty-one percent of all cases of dentoalveolar trauma, which agrees with the outcomes of previous studies 8,15,[20][21][22][23] . Few cases of dentoalveolar traumatic injuries were attributed to sports accidents (3.4%), which is consistent with the results of other authors 20,24 .…”

A Survey of Dental and Oral Trauma in South‐East Queensland During 1998

“…Injuries to all teeth were recorded in this study compared with other studies where only injuries to either anterior teeth, or specifically, injuries to primary or permanent teeth were recorded. This high number of injuries per patient has also been reported by Martin et al 3 and Galea 13 where data were collected from casualty and emergency departments at hospitals. This may once again suggest that patients experiencing more severe injuries, or injuries occurring after hours, attend hospitals rather than public or private dental clinics.…”

“…The highest frequency of trauma occurred in the 6-10 year old age group and was in agreement with other studies. 3,5,6,11 Playing and riding bicycles were the most frequently associated activities, while in the 16-20 year old group fighting and sport were the predominant activities. Assaults or fights were also the second and third most common cause of dental injury in studies by Davis and Knott 5 and Perez et al 12 respectively.…”

“…1,2,5-8,13-16 Two Australian studies by Martin et al, 3 and Liew and Daly 4 established a higher male:female ratio of 2.6:1.0. These studies examined patients attending after hours clinics which resulted in a higher incidence for 18-23 year olds.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] These sub-populations represent a small portion of the general Australian population. Davis and Knott 5 in 1984 studied patients presenting with dental trauma to members of the Australian Society of Endodontology, Australia-wide.…”