Traumatic injuries to primary teeth in Mexico City children

The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyse traumatic injuries to primary teeth in children attending an emergency dental service in a pediatric hospital in Mexico City. A total of 563 children 6-mo to 7 yrs-old were treated during the period from January 1981 to December 1987. The 563 children presented 936 traumatic dental injuries. The most common type of trauma was soft tissue injury, followed by luxation and avulsion. More males presented with traumatic injuries (61.8%) than females (38.2%). In both sexes, maxillary teeth received more traumatic injuries than mandibular teeth. Children 2-3 yrs old presented the highest number of injuries (195) followed by the 4-5 and 6-7 year-olds. The largest number of injuries were seen during winter (36%) followed by summer (25%), spring (21%) and fall (18%).