Risk Factors for Traumatic Dental Injuries in an Adolescent Male Population in India

Abstract

Aim:The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth and evaluate the role of anatomic risk factors in the occurrence of such injuries in a group with an assumed behavior predisposing them to trauma. Methods and Materials:The study population consisted of 370 male enrollees of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in India. Risk factors such as the socioeconomic status (SES) of parents, lip coverage, incisor overjet, and the cause and nature of trauma to anterior teeth were recorded. The Chi-square test was used for testing the association between these factors. Increasing overjet was further analyzed using chi-square for linear trends. Variables found significant were subjected to logistic regression. Results:A prevalence of 14.9% of traumatic injuries to anterior teeth was found in the study population with sports activities being the most common cause. Permanent maxillary central incisors were most commonly injured with injuries involving enamel and dentin being the most frequently observed. Increased overjet and inadequate lip coverage were significantly associated with the occurrence of trauma. With an odds ratio of 7.2 inadequate lip coverage was identified, using binary logistic regression, as the single most independent risk factor for the occurrence of traumatic injury to the maxillary anterior teeth.

Attributes of Dental Trauma in a School Population with Active Sports Involvement

“…Sport was the leading cause of injury as reported in an earlier study [4] and the second most common cause was of unknown origin in accordance with Rai and Munshi [5] . The most probable cause for this could be the retrospective nature of the study and the slight nature of trauma (enamel fracture) recorded in the study [7] .…”

“…The increased participation in sports, recreational and physical activity may be the reason for increased prevalence of TDI among Sainik school, Udumalpet children as compared to similar other studies conducted in India [4, 14, 15] .…”

“…Young males who frequently participate in sports and physical activity were identified to be at a higher risk for the occurrence of anterior teeth injuries [4] . The increased participation in sports, recreational and physical activity may be the reason for increased prevalence of TDI among Sainik school, Udumalpet children as compared to similar other studies conducted in India [4, 14, 15] .…”

“…Studies on prevalence of TDI in India report 14.9% in 14-16 year National Cadet Corps (NCC) children [4] ; 13.80% in 8-14 year South Kanara children [5] and 10.13% in Chidambaram school children [6] . Trauma are more than doubled in children with overjet of 3.5 mm and larger [7–9] .…”

“…The method error for the trauma scale [10] , method of recording overjet [4] and lip coverage [11] has been previously tested and it has been established as acceptable.…”