Traumatic injuries of the permanent maxillory incisors at Dental Department, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND The study aims to ascertain the prevalence of traumatic dental injures of the maxillary permanent incisors at Dental Department, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad during the years 2003-2005. Information concerning age, sex, cause, type of tooth, number of injured teeth and patterns of tooth injury were recorded retrospectively from 336 patients aged between 8-40 years, comprising 498 traumatized teeth. METHODS The dental records of all the patients presenting with dental trauma were examined for collection of data relating to age, sex, cause, number of injured teeth, type of tooth and type of tooth trauma. Type of tooth trauma was recorded according to the Andreason classification. The data was subsequently processed and analyzed using the SPSS statistical software programme. The statistical significance level was set at 5%. RESULTS Of the 336 patients, 227 were males (67.6%) and 109 were females (32.4%). The gender difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). The patients had a total of 498 traumatized teeth. A large number of dental trauma occurred in patients aged between 9-11 years. Most injuries involved one tooth in 227 patients (67.6%). However two teeth in 90 patients (26.7%), three teeth in 11 patients (3.2%) and only in 8 patients (2.3%) four teeth were involved. Fractures in enamel only occurred in 74 teeth (14.6%). Uncomplicated crown fractures in 208 teeth (41.9%) were the most commonly encountered dental trauma. 137 teeth (27.6%) suffered complicated crown fractures, 44 teeth (8.9%) uncomplicated crown-root fractures, 19 teeth (3.8%) complicated crown-root fractures and avulsion in 16 teeth (3.2%) only. The main causes were falls in 225 patients (66.9%), collision with objects in 40 patients (11.9%), road traffic accident in31 patients (9.2%) violence in 21 patients (6.2%), and sports in 19 patients (5.6%). The maxillary central incisor was traumatized in 384 teeth showing a high percentage of 77%. CONCLUSION Raising public dental awareness regarding the serious outcome of traumatic dental injuries is mandatory to improve the prognosis of dental trauma and to avoid complications.