Orofacial and dental trauma of young children in Dunedin, New Zealand

Abstract

Three hundred traumatic incidents in 288 children were analysed; 86.6% had causes noted. In very young children, most injuries were because of falls, while collisions, falling and sports were responsible for more injuries in school-aged children. Playground equipment and ride-on vehicles played a role particularly in the older children. There were no incidents of trauma as a result of road traffic accidents. Ten injuries were caused by animals, mainly dogs. Location was recorded for two-thirds of accidents: the predominant place was at home, followed by school. No seasonal variation was apparent. There were 228 non-dental injuries, of which the majority were to the lips. The predominant dental injuries in both dentitions were concussions and subluxations with a significantly higher occurrence of both in the primary dentition (P<0.001). Upper central incisors were most often involved. The age distribution for boys and girls was similar. In conclusion, the causes and types of orofacial trauma in this group of young New Zealand school children attending a university dental school were similar to other studies, except for the high proportion of concussions recorded in both dentitions. While the injuries were well described, not all records noted the cause or location. This has resulted in changes to the standard recording form to provide consistency in data capture. Information from this study will also be used to support child injury prevention strategies in New Zealand.

Dental trauma in contact sports

“…However, the primary teeth, specifically the primary maxillary central incisors (right or left), were the most affected by trauma. This result is identical to that achieved in the study by Chan et al 28 that includes both dentitions. This seems to be related to the start of development of motor skills and the accidents during this developmental stage 28 .…”

“…This result is identical to that achieved in the study by Chan et al 28 that includes both dentitions. This seems to be related to the start of development of motor skills and the accidents during this developmental stage 28 . Nonetheless, other studies that include both dentitions refer that, contrary to what this investigation reports, the teeth suffering most trauma were the permanent maxillary central incisors 11,27 .…”

“…In terms of soft tissue traumatic lesions, the most affected region was the lips, similarly to the results of the study by Chan et al 28 .…”

“…The majority of traumatic dental lesions occurred in the maxillary central incisors (primary and permanent) 1,[11][12][13][14][15][18][19][20][27][28] . However, the primary teeth, specifically the primary maxillary central incisors (right or left), were the most affected by trauma.…”

Dental luxation and avulsion injuries in Hong Kong primary school children

“…7,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] In a study of New Zealand children, fall was the most common cause in children aged 5 to 7 years, but collision became more common in the 8-to 10-year-old group. 21 Nonetheless, such a trend was not observed in this study. Although dental injury due to cycling accidents was not uncommon in this study, this finding may be confounded by the fact that New Territories East has one of the busiest cycling path networks in Hong Kong.…”