Traumatized permanent teeth in Brazilian children assisted at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

The goal of this study was to determine factors related to the occurrence of dental trauma in permanent teeth of children assisted at the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) Florianópolis, Brazil. During a period of 18 months, 36 children between 7 and 12 years of age had 72 traumatized teeth treated. The children were all assisted by one professional, a dentist working as a trainee of the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic. The occurrence of trauma was higher in male patients (61.3%) and in children between 8 and 9 years old with an average age of mean=9.4 years. In the group assisted, 63.9% of the children had more than one traumatized tooth and trauma reoccurred 19.4% of the time. The maxillary anterior teeth represented 96.1% of the cases and the central incisor teeth were the most affected. Both sides of the mouth had approximately the same number of traumas. Fractures were more frequent (51.4%) than luxations (48.6%). Enamel/dentin crown fractures represented 51.4% of the total traumatized teeth. Falls were the main cause of trauma (83.3%). A dental professional assisted 36.1% of the children in some way during the first 24 h after the incident. The study concluded that the permanent dentition is mostly affected by crown fractures that occur especially on maxillary central incisor teeth in patients between 8 and 9 years of age. The major etiological factor is falls that affected more than one tooth. Re-occurrence of trauma is fairly common.