Does trauma in the primary dentition cause sequelae in permanent successors? A systematic review

This systematic review sought scientific evidence (in the literature) that trauma in the primary incisors cause sequelae in permanent successors. Also this work verified whether there was a relation between the presence and type of sequelae in permanent teeth with the child's age at the time of injury and type of trauma. Electronic databases, including the PubMed, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, LILACS, and Web of Science were used to search for original articles up to June 2013. Prospective and retrospective studies that assessed the association of trauma in deciduous incisors and developmental disturbances in permanent successors were selected. Two authors independently reviewed and extracted the data from the included studies. A methodological quality assessment evaluation of the selected studies was performed. The search retrieved 258 citations. Initially, 19 studies fulfilled the selection criteria; however, one (1) was excluded, leaving 18 for the final selection. Despite some limitations in the study designs were observed, especially the lack of a control group in most studies, the evidence found suggests that individuals with trauma in their primary incisors have more developmental disorders in the permanent successors than individuals without a previous trauma. Furthermore, the younger the child is at the time of injury, the more frequent and more severe are the sequelae to the permanent successor incisors. More severe traumas such as intrusion and avulsion are associated to more serious developmental disorders. These results should be analyzed carefully because very few studies evaluated had a control group.