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 o f dental trauma in permanent teeth of children assisted at the Pediatric De ntistry Clinic of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) Florianop olis, Brazil. During a period of 18 months, 36 children between 7 and 12 ye ars of age had 72 traumatized teeth treated. The children were all assisted by one professional, a dentist working as a trainee of the Pediatric Denti stry Clinic. The occurrence of trauma was higher in male patients (61.3%) a nd in children between 8 and 9 years old with an average age of (x) over ba r = 9.4 years. In the group assisted, 63.9% of the children had more than o ne traumatized tooth and trauma reoccurred 19.4% of the time. The maxillary anterior teeth represented 96.1% of the cases and the central incisor teet h were the most affected. Both sides of the mouth had approximately the sam e number of traumas. Fractures were more frequent (51.4%) than luxations (4 8.6%). Enamel/dentin crown fractures represented 51.4% of the total traumat ized teeth. Falls were the main cause of trauma (83.3%). A dental professio nal 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 af fected by crown fractures that occur especially on maxillary central inciso r teeth in patients between 8 and 9 years of age. The major etiological fac tor is falls that affected more than one tooth. Re-occurrence of trauma is fairly common.