Traumatic Dental Injuries, Treatment and Complications in Children and Adolescents: A Register-Based Study

Abstract

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Traumatic dental injury (TDI) is a common dental concern among children worldwide. We performed a retrospective patient register study among children under 18 years to investigate TDIs with respect to causes, treatment, and complications.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>We collected information on TDIs from the original patient records of 407 child patients visiting dental clinic of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania. We analyzed all child patients' (<em>n</em> = 407) background, cause, type of TDI, treatment, complications, and time elapsed from injury to visit to the dentist.</p><p><strong>Statistical analysis: </strong>The <em>χ</em> ²-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests served in the statistical analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 579 TDI cases occurred during 2010 to 2016. Lateral luxation (19.8%) and intrusion (14.8%) occurred more often in the primary than the permanent dentition (<em>p</em> < 0.05). The most common cause of TDI was falling (56%). Avulsion occurred in approximately 10% of cases. Follow-up (44.5%) and tooth extraction (48.3%) were the most frequent treatments in the primary and splinting (25.3%) in the permanent teeth. Pulp necrosis was the most frequent complication in primary (92%) and permanent (54%) dentition. About 1% of the patients obtained dental care during the first hour after injury.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The most frequent TDIs included lateral luxation in primary teeth and enamel-dentine fractures in permanent teeth. We observed a delay in patients obtaining emergency dental care.</p><p><br><br></p>