Epidemiology of dental trauma in children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective To study the prevalence and distribution of dental trauma in children and adolescents. Method A total of 347 patients with the permanent anterior teeth injured aged from 6 to 25 years were treated and selected from July 2008 to June 2009. Data of gender, age, site of accident occurred, number of teeth injured, and location and type of injury were taken from the dental records. Results Of them, there were male 219, female 128, and the ratio of male/female was 1.7:1.0, The highest incidence of tooth injuries occurred a-mong children of 10 to 13 years old. The common site of dental trauma was school. The majority of dental casualties had one tooth (38.0%) and two teeth (38.0%) injured. Of all types of dental injury, subloxation (19.8%), and enamel and dentin fractures without pulpa involvement (18.7%) were the most seen ones. Con-clusions The dental trauma in children and adolescents is a major problem that can not be ignored, and should be given persistent attention to prevent. Key words: Dental trauma; Children; Young adults; Epidemiology