[Dental trauma: quo vadis]

As figures stand now, dental trauma will in the forseeable future probably surpass dental caries and periodontal disease as the most significant threat to dental health among youth, affecting approximately 50% of schoolchildren before they reach school leaving age. This threat will also be accompanied by just as significant economic consequences. Despite the frequency and severity of dental trauma, little has been done in the dental academic world to examine the cause and effect relationship between, e.g. trauma and later healing complications or acute treatment and the same. Moreover, knowledge about long-term prognosis after trauma is fragmentary. 1989 has been declared by the European Community as children's safety year. Perhaps this year will bring the traumatized child into focus and trigger the research needed to understand the etiology of trauma, its treatment and its consequences.