Retrospective study on traumatic dental injuries in preschool children at Kyung Hee Dental Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse the traumatic dental injuries (TDI) of Korean preschoolers by investigating the occurrence, type, area, cause, injured region, seasonal variation and the interval between injury and treatment. In this study, data from 1856 preschoolers aged 4 months to 6 years and 11 months (mean age : 3.6 +/- 1.6) were used, out of a total of 2761 patients who attended the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Kyung Hee Dental Hospital for TDI between January 1998 and December 2007. All the data were statistically analysed using the anova and chi-square statics. Most of the patients were 1-2, 2-3 years old (24.5%, 25.4%) and boys were 1.67 times more likely to have TDI. The most common cause, location and seasonal variation of the trauma, were respectively falling (50.8%), at home (48.8%) and late spring. The treatment intervals usually occurred within a day. Most of the injuries involved single (47%) or double (38%) tooth/teeth. However, car accidents or sports trauma often involved multiple teeth. In both primary and permanent dentition, the most common teeth injured were maxillary central incisors (72.6%), and periodontal injury was caused by subluxation or concussion. Among the various types of hard tissue injuries, enamel fracture in the primary dentition (35.0%) and enamel-dentin fracture in the permanent dentition (45.8%) were the most common types.

Prevalence, Type and Etiology of Dental and Soft Tissue Injuries in Children in Croatia

“…Th is fi nding is in agreement with previous reports 16,18,29 . Th e more urgent dental treatment is the result of bleeding tendencies and edema caused by soft tissue damage.…”

“…A lack of motor coordination 25,26 on walking and running is the main reason for TDI in preschool children, whereas in early school-age children, TDIs are most likely due to increased independence at school, playgrounds and sports 4,27,28 . In agreement with previous studies [18][19][20]29,30 , this study showed that TDI commonly involved maxillary incisors. Th is fi nding may be explained by the fact that these teeth may have inadequate lip coverage and frequently protrude 30 .…”

“…Our fi nding was 45.4%. Th e literature shows that the prevalence of soft tissue injuries in association with injuries to the primary teeth was 45.2% 29 , which is fewer than in our study (55.5%). Th e same information was not found for permanent teeth, whereas the fi nding in the present study was 41.4%.…”

“…Th is results in an unnecessary waste of time and increases the likelihood of post-traumatic complications. Because of this situation, 42.9% of the patients sought treatment within 24 hours, in comparison to the fi gure of 62.8% reported by Choi et al 29 .…”

Prevalência de nódulos pulpares em molares de estudantes de Odontologia e fatores associados

“…Em lesões muito extensas e profundas, pode haver uma grande deposição dessa dentina na cavidade pulpar, ou a lesão de cárie pode induzir as células da polpa a produzirem focos de dentina no interior do tecido, podendo acarretar no aparecimento de calcificações pulpares capazes até de causar a obliteração da câmara 11 . Uma possível ruptura, mesmo que parcial, do suprimento vascular apical da polpa, após traumatismos alvéolo-dentários, pode gerar uma isquemia transitória ou a formação de um coágulo no tecido pulpar, com consequente depósito de tecido calcificado em decorrência da estimulação dos odontoblastos [12][13][14] . Da mesma forma que os traumatismos, porém com menor frequência, o tratamento ortodôntico representa estresse adicional para o tecido pulpar, que, numa tentativa de defesa, induziria a formação de calcificações 2,8,[15][16][17] .…”