Frequency of pulp canal obliteration in primary teeth after traumatic dental injury and its association with related variables

Samantha Alves Do Nascimento Moura,Keilla Couto Machado,Marcia Rejane Thomas Canabarro Andrade,Mirian De Waele Souchois De Marsillac,Michele Machado Lenzi,Vera Campos

doi:10.1590/1981-86372021001020190098

Samantha Alves Do Nascimento Moura, Keilla Couto Machado + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-86372021001020190098

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of pulp canal obliteration (PCO) after traumatic dental injury (TDI) of primary anterior teeth and to investigate its relation with the related variables. Methods This retrospective study has been done with dental records of patients selected from the Paediatric Dental Trauma Clinic between 2006 and 2016. Those who had PCO in the primary anterior teeth and were aged 0-108 months at the time of trauma were considered eligible. Data related to patients and TDI, such as sex, the child’s age at the time of trauma, aetiology, affected teeth, the child’s age at the time of the eruption of the permanent successor as well as the presence of crown discoloration were extracted from the dental records. Results Among the 483 children with traumatised teeth, 14.9% had PCO and the most of them exhibited crown discoloration. The average age of the children at the time of the trauma was 38 months and the most common aetiology of the TDI was falls. The average time for the beginning of the PCO process was 13.5 months. There was no statistically significant association between the child’s age at the time of trauma and the types of TDI, PCO and the presence of crown discoloration. Conclusions The frequency of PCO was relatively low though the presence of crown discoloration was considerable. There was no association between the child’s age at the time of trauma and the studied variable.

Highlights

Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) are very common in childhood and occur mostly between the ages of 1 and 4 years old [1,2,3]
Primary teeth can have different sequelae due to TDI such as crown discoloration, pulp necrosis, pathological root resorption related to pulp inflammation, ankyloses or pulp canal obliteration [11,12,13,14,15]
The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of pulp canal obliteration (PCO) after dental trauma of primary anterior teeth and to investigate its relation with the variables: presence of tooth crown discoloration and average time spent for the PCO to develop

Summary

Introduction

Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) are very common in childhood and occur mostly between the ages of 1 and 4 years old [1,2,3]. Pulp canal obliteration (PCO) is a progressive tissue reaction of the dental pulp that can occur due to trauma in the primary teeth [16,17]. It is normally detected in radiographic exams as a not well-marked radiolucent image of the pulp chamber [16,18]. A tooth with this sequela presents a greyish crown becoming yellowish over time [12,19] This is an important finding because the most parents or guardians seek a pediatric dentist due to this discoloration related to PCO, and its frequency it is not weel reported in the literature. In total pulp canal obliterations, the pulp chamber and the root canal are hardly visible (or not at all), while in partial obliterations, the pulp chamber is narrowed and the root canal is clearly visible [13,14,20]

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Conclusion