Dental emergencies presenting to a dental teaching hospital due to complications from traumatic dental injuries.

Abstract

In Jordan, only two surveys of dental trauma have been carried out. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and pattern of dental emergencies resulting from traumatic injuries, as well as treatment provided to children presenting with these dental emergencies. Over a 1-year period, 620 children presented to our pediatric dental clinics with dental emergencies; 195 (31%) of these emergencies were a consequence of dental trauma to 287 teeth and were included in the study. The average time between the trauma and the dental emergency was 5 months. Pain or sensitivity was the most frequent presenting symptom (31.3%) followed by swelling or sinus tract (17.4%). The age of these patients ranged from 15 months to 14 years, with an average age of 9.3 years. Males accounted for 75.4% of the children in the samples, whereas females accounted for only 24.6%. The main cause of dental trauma was falling during play (58.5%); the least common cause was motor vehicle accidents, accounting for only 1.5% of all injuries. Most of the dental injuries occurred at home (41.5%), around noon time. The most commonly involved teeth were permanent maxillary central incisors accounting for 79.5% of all teeth involved by dental trauma. The most frequently encountered type of trauma in this sample was crown fracture seen in 76.6% of the teeth. Soft tissue injuries were estimated to occur in 16.9% of the children. The treatment received by the children in the sample ranged from no active treatment (6.2%) to elaborate dental procedures such as pulp therapy (41.3%) and prosthetic replacement of missing teeth (5.1%).