Purpose: To identify the prevalence and determinants of dental trauma in permanent anterior teeth among 11- to 13-year-old schoolchildren, to compare self-reported dental trauma rates with clinical examination trauma rates, and to examine mouthguard use among children engaged in contact sports.
Materials and methods: A probability sampling scheme was used to recruit schools, with all 6th grade children in the selected schools invited to participate. A total of 2621 caregiver consent forms were sent, of which 807 were returned (31%). Caregivers were asked four trauma-related questions. Clinical examinations included assessment of dental trauma experience (trauma index with five severity codes), lip competence and incisal overjet. Child- and tooth-level analyses were performed.
Results: Clinical evidence of dental trauma was found in 52% of participants, 13% self-reported dental trauma, and 7% of children did not remember the occurrence of any trauma. The two most frequently self-reported reasons of dental injury were falls or collisions with objects (63%) and sport/leisure activities (32%). Nearly half of the more severe dental injuries did not receive the necessary treatments. One-third of schoolchildren participated in contact sport activities, but only 3% always used mouthguards. There was a substantial difference between the clinical and self-reported findings. Logistic regression analyses revealed no statistically significant associations between dental trauma experience and the potential determinants studied: gender, lip coverage and overjet.
Conclusion: In this study, traumatic dental injuries were observed with 52% prevalence. A substantial discrepancy between self-reported and clinical findings was observed.
Keywords: children; dental trauma; mouthguards; self-reports; trauma index.