Parents' recognition of dental trauma in their children.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to assess parents' recognition of dental trauma in their children. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with 519 randomly selected children between 1 and 3 years of age. The parents answered questions on the occurrence of previous dental trauma, caregiver's schooling and the impact of dental trauma on activities and quality of life of the children. The children were also clinically examined for presence of dental trauma. Descriptive analysis, the chi-squared test, Mann-Whitney test and Poisson regression analysis were performed. The calculation of effect size was used to test the clinical significance of the findings. RESULTS A total of 41.2% (n = 214) of the children had at least one tooth with dental trauma. Among the parents of the children with dental trauma, 42.5% (n = 91) had not recognized the trauma. Mean caregiver's schooling was 8.9 ± 3.3 years of study. The schooling of caregivers who were unaware of the dental trauma was lower (mean: 5.3 ± 2.5 years of study) than that of those who were aware of the trauma (10.4 ± 2.1 years of study; P < 0.001). The recognition of dental trauma was more prevalent among parents of children over 24 months of age (PR: 3.5; 95% CI: 2.2-5.6), those whose children experienced an impact of oral health status on quality of life (PR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1-1.4) and those with a higher level of schooling (PR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1-1.2). CONCLUSION A large portion of parents do not recognize the occurrence of dental trauma in their toddlers. The age of the child, impact of oral health status on quality of life and caregiver's schooling were directly associated with parents' recognition of dental trauma in children aged 12 to 36 months.