Citation

Bhayya DP, Shyagali TR. Oral Health Dent. Manag. 2013; 12(1): 17-23.

Affiliation

Darshan Dental College and Hospital Campus,Loyara, Udaipur, India.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Black Sea Universities Network)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23474577

Abstract

Aims: The aims of the study were: to assess the prevalence of traumatic injuries to the teeth of 4- to 6-year-old children living in Gulbarga City, India, to determine prevalence of such dental traumatic injuries at the ages of 4, 5, and 6 years and to compare the prevalence of these injuries between male and female children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed. It consisted of a clinical examination of upper and lower deciduous anterior teeth by one examiner and an interview using a questionnaire with a sample of 1500 children aged 4 to 6 years who attended kindergarten and primary schools in Gulbarga city. Garcia-Godoy's (1981) classification was used to classify the traumatic injuries. Intra-examiner consistency was assessed by kappa values on tooth-by-tooth basis. The chisquare test was used to analyse any gender and age differences. Results: The prevalence of traumatic dental injuries was 76.13%, of which crown fracture with enamel involvement of teeth was the most prevalent, followed by crown fracture with both enamel and dentine involvement. Significant and highly significant differences were found between boys and girls for discoloration of teeth (P<0.05), crown fracture involving enamel (P<0.001) and crown fracture involving both enamel and dentine (P<0.001). The prevalence of traumatic dental injuries in the 5-year-old children was higher than that in the 4- and 6-year-olds. The commonest cause of injury was due to a fall (60%) and in 40% of cases of traumatic injury, they occurred in a field/playground. Conclusions: The prevalence of traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth of the 4- to 6-year-olds who took part in this study was very high. There is a need to run educational programmes to increase parents' awareness of the risks of dental trauma.

Language: en