Traumatized Primary Teeth in Children Assisted at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to identify the factors related to the occurrence of dental trauma in deciduous teeth. Over a period of 25 months, 85 children between 10 months and 6 years of age were assisted by the staff of the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) Florianópolis, Brazil. The children, all assisted by only one professional, a dentist working as a trainee in the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic, had 157 traumatized teeth treated. The occurrence of trauma was higher in male patients (51.8%) and in children between 1 and 3 years old. The average age was about =2.7 years. The 54.1% of the assisted children had more than one traumatized tooth and the repeat trauma occurred 16.7% of the time. Anterior teeth represented 98.7% of the cases and 76.4% of the trauma were on the maxillary central incisor teeth. Both sides of the mouth had approximately the same number of traumatic injuries. Luxations were more frequent (85.4%) than fractures (14.6%). Subluxations represented 38.8% of the luxated teeth. Falls were the main cause of trauma (78%). A percentage of 41.9 children were assisted by a dental professional during the first 24h after the incident. The study concluded that the deciduous dentition is mostly affected by luxations (subluxations) that occur specially on the maxillary central incisor teeth, in patients between 1 and 3 years of age. Falls are the most common etiological factor and more than one traumatized tooth is common. Some of the cases were repeat traumatic injuries.

Epidemiologic survey of traumatic dental injuries in children seen at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…1 It has a physical, aesthetic and psychological impact, not only on the child but also on his/her parents. 2 No agreement exists on the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries, as this has differed from study to study and from country to country. Studies report frequencies ranging from 10.2 to 69.2%.…”

“…4,12,13 Because of the resilient bone surrounding the primary teeth, the majority of injuries are tooth luxations. 2,13,14 The assessment of traumas in the primary dentition seems to be very relevant not only because of the presence of sequelae in the present dentition, but also because it allows the identification of possible development alterations in the permanent dentition. Unfortunately, people in general are not well informed about the risks of trauma in the deciduous and permanent dentitions and what can be done to avoid them.…”

“…Unfortunately, people in general are not well informed about the risks of trauma in the deciduous and permanent dentitions and what can be done to avoid them. 2 There are several studies in the literature that evaluate the prevalence of dental traumatism in the primary and permanent dentitions, 1,2,6,12,15,16 although just a few of them present the epidemiology of primary teeth sequelae in face of these traumas. 17,18 In this context, the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of traumatic injuries in children aged 0-6 years and the resulting sequelae in the primary dentition.…”

“…Studies report frequencies ranging from 10.2 to 69.2%. 2,3,4,5,6 The most common age group in which primary tooth injury occurs is 1 to 3 years. 7 Nonetheless, Osuji et al 8 (1996) states that children aged 4 to 5 years are the most likely to suffer trauma.…”

Predominant Causes and Types of Orofacial Injury in Children Attending Emergency Department

“…[1,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21] In fact, these occurred commonly as children became ambulatory but had not yet developed mature motor skills. [22] The findings of this study show a higher percentage of younger children, especially at the preschool age, with a history of orofacial trauma.…”