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

Abstract

Objective 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.

Materials and Methods 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’ (n = 407) background, cause, type of TDI, treatment, complications, and time elapsed from injury to visit to the dentist.

Statistical Analysis The χ 2-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests served in the statistical analyses.

Results 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 (p < 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.

Conclusion 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.