ANTERIOR TOOTH TRAUMA IN 11-YEAR-OLD SOUTH-AFRICAN CHILDREN

main dental treatment needs for South African children.Little new evid ence on the prevalence of injury to the anterior teeth of children has been reported in the past five years and, in South Africa, trauma to the teeth of children in different ethnic groups has not been compared respectively. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of dental trauma using well-defined criteria and to sample a specific age-group. Five legions were chosen and 1035 children in th e eleven-year age-group were examined. No statistical significance was found between the ethnic groups related to the amount of injury susta ined. For all groups, boys received more injuries than girls. The most common injury was fracture of the enamel of the mixillary central inc isor. With 15 percent of the children receiving some level of trauma m ain dental treatment needs for South African children.