ABSTRACT
To investigate the prevalence of dental trauma, its causes, sites and age at the occurrence of injuries and treatment needs related to dental trauma in schoolchildren aged 12 years at Brasília, DF, Brazil.Material and Methods:A cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted on a sample of 1,389 schoolchildren of public and private schools. Two questionnaires were used: one targeted to parents/legal caretakers and the other responded by the schoolchildren. The criteria for classification of trauma used in the ChildrenÆs Dental Survey in the United Kingdom were adopted. The examinations were performed by two trained and calibrated examiners (inter and intra-examiner kappa: 0.85 to 1.00). The association between dental trauma and the study variables was evaluated by the chi-square test.Results:A total of 1,445 students were examined, with a response rate of 80.48%. Prevalence of 14.63% (public schools) and 23.40% (private schools) of dental trauma was found...(AU)
The most common cause of dental trauma was fall (7.87%), followed by collision with objects or persons(5.03%), inadequate use of the teeth (2.33%), sports accidents (2.11%) and car accidents (0.66%). It was observed that 256 students presented injury to at least one tooth, with predominance of enamel fracture (88.67%) followed by discoloration (5.47%), enamel and dentin fracture (3.90%) and tooth loss (1.95 %). The teeth most affected by trauma were the maxillary central incisors. The accidents occurred predominantly at home (44.25%) and at the school (26.99%). Only 28.51% had received treatment for the injuries.Conclusion:Dental trauma in the study population was significant, presenting diverse etiology and expressive treatment needs, indicating the importance of preventive programs to inform the population on the possible complications after trauma, as well as the need to follow-up traumatized teeth to avoid subsequent problems...