Prevalence of Traumatic Dental Injuries among Children less than 12 Years Old

Abstract

Dental trauma or traumatic dental injuries is an emerging dental problem. Several studies showed that the prevalence of dental trauma has increased in the past few decades. Dental trauma can result in fracture, displacement or loss of a tooth. Dental trauma has been seen more in children who are involved in sports. The aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries among children less than 12 years old. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted where case records were collected and analysed the data of 86000 patients between June 2019 and March 2020 from a private dental institution. The data collected included children below 12 years of age with a history of dental trauma to anterior teeth. The data was tabulated with parameters such as age, gender, fractured tooth, classification of fractured tooth based on ellis classification. Data was imported to SPSS for statistical analysis. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test were used to compare the results. All values were considered statistically significant at P value<0.005. In this study, boys were more affected (61.5%) with dental trauma compared to girl children. The most common age group involved was 10 to 12 years (66.7%) where the common tooth involved was maxillary central incisors (71.8%), with class 3 being the most common fracture (43.6%). We suggest that educational programs should be organized for the school teachers, children, and parents to improve their knowledge and timely management of dental trauma.