European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry

, Volume 19, Issue 2, pp 107–111 | Cite as

Incidence of dental traumatic injuries in children 0–4 years of age: a prospective study based on parental reporting

Original Scientific Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
  • 35 Downloads

Abstract

Aim

To collect prospective information reported by parents regarding dental traumas occurring in children 6 months to 4 years of age, furthermore, to collect data on complications from the dental records.

Methods

The staff from the child health services distributed a questionnaire at the regular health check-up reviews for a number of age groups, i.e., 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 42 months of age. The parents were to observe and register factors around dental trauma for the following 6-month period. The questionnaires (138) were returned, irrespective of any trauma having occurred or not. If a child was seeing a dentist (emergency visit), the diagnosis of trauma and later complications were collected from the dental records.

Results

There were 35 of 138 children experienced trauma (6–47 months of age). The half-year incidence of trauma in children 6 months to 4.0 years of age was between 12 and 48%. A total of 41 traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) were reported. Of these 24 occurred indoors. The most common reason for trauma was falling accidents. In 24 out of the 41 reported TDIs the children were not seen by a dentist in connection with the trauma. The reason was that the parents thought the trauma did not matter.

Conclusions

The high incidence of TDIs reported in toddlers in this study indicates that there is an under-reporting of TDIs in previously reported studies. The research design used in the present study has an advantage and should be tested in further studies.

Keywords

Dental trauma Incidence Children Primary teeth 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grants from the Local Research and Development Council in Södra Älvsborg County, Sweden.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The author declare no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all parents to the individual participants in the study.

References

  1. Andreasen JO. Challenges in clinical dental traumatology. Endod Dent Traumatol. 1985;1:45–55.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Andreasen JO, Ravn JJ. Epidemiology of traumatic dental injuries to primary and permanent teeth in a Danish population sample. Int J Oral Surg. 1972;1:235–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Avsar A, Topaloglu B. Traumatic tooth injuries to primary teeth of children aged 0–3 years. Dent Traumatol. 2009;25:323–7.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Borssen E, Holm AK. Traumatic dental injuries in a cohort of 16-year-olds in northern Sweden. Endod Dent Traumatol. 1997;13(6):276–80.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Borum MK, Andreasen JO. Sequelae of trauma to primary maxillary incisors. I. Complications in the primary dentition. Endod Dent Traumatol. 1998;14:31–44.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Cunha RF, Pugliesi DM, De Mello Vieira AE. Oral trauma in Brazilian patients aged 0–3 years. Dent Traumatol. 2001;17:210–2.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Ferguson FS, Ripa LW. Prevalence and type of traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth of preschool children. J Pedod. 1979;4:3–8.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. Forsberg CM, Tedestam G. Traumatic injuries to teeth in Swedish children living in an urban area. Swed Dent J. 1990;14:115–22.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Fried I, Erickson P. Anterior tooth trauma in the primary dentition: incidence, classification, treatment methods, and sequelae: a review of the literature. ASDC J Dent Child. 1995;62:256–61.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Garcia-Godoy F, Garcia-Godoy F, Garcia-Godoy FM. Primary teeth traumatic injuries at a private pediatric dental center. Endod Dent Traumatol. 1987;3:126–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Garcia-Godoy F, Garcia-Godoy F, Olivo M. Injuries to primary and permanent teeth treated in a private paedodontic practice. J Can Dent Assoc. 1979;45:281–4.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Garcia-Godoy F, Morban-Laucer F, Corominas LR, Franjul RA, Noyola M. Traumatic dental injuries in preschoolchildren from Santo Domingo. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1983;11:127–30.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Glendor U, Halling A, Andersson L, Eilert-Petersson E. Incidence of traumatic tooth injuries in children and adolescents in the county of Vastmanland, Sweden. Swed Dent J. 1996;20:15–28.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. Haavikko K, Rantanen L. A follow-up study of injuries to permanent and primary teeth in children. Proc Finn Dent Soc. 1976;72:152–62.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Harrington MS, Eberhart AB, Knapp JF. Dentofacial trauma in children. ASDC J Dent Child. 1988;55:334–8.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. Lam R, Abbott P, Lloyd C, et al. Dental trauma in an Australian rural centre. Dent Traumatol. 2008;24:663–70.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. Oldin A, Lundgren J, Nilsson M, Noren JG, Robertson A. Traumatic dental injuries among children aged 0–17 years in the BITA study—A longitudinal Swedish multicenter study. Dent Traumatol. 2015;31:9–17.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. Onetto JE, Flores MT, Garbarino ML. Dental trauma in children and adolescents in Valparaiso, Chile. Endod Dent Traumatol. 1994;10:223–7.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Rasmusson CG, Koch G. Assessment of traumatic injuries to primary teeth in general practise and specialized paediatric dentistry. Dent Traumatol. 2010;26:129–32.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Skaare AB, Jacobsen I. Primary tooth injuries in Norwegian children (1–8 years). Dent Traumatol. 2005;21:315–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. Tello G, Bonini GC, Murakami C, et al. Trends in the prevalence of traumatic crown injuries and associated factors in Brazilian preschool children: 10-year observational data. Dent Traumatol. 2016;32:274–80.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Clinic of Pediatric Dentistry, Public Dental ServiceBoråsSweden
  2. 2.Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Institute of Odontology at the Sahlgrenska AcademyUniversity of GothenburgGothenburgSweden
  3. 3.Department of Pediatric DentistryThe Institute for Postgraduate Dental EducationJönköpingSweden

Personalised recommendations