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Paediatric dental emergencies: a retrospective study and a proposal for definition and guidelines including pain
L C Martens1, S Rajasekharan2, W Jacquet3,4
1Department of Paediatric Dentistry, PaeCoMeDiS Research Cluster, Ghent University, C. Heymanslaan 10 (P8), 9000, Ghent, Belgium. luc.martens@ugent.be.
Aim:
This was primarily to perform a retrospective analysis of 1000 emergency dental visits in order to characterize the nature of the dental emergency and the treatment provided and secondly to define a guideline for dental emergency treatment in children including pain management.
Materials And Methods:
A retrospective review was conducted of 1000 patients (aged 0-16 years) who visited the dental emergency service of the paediatric dental clinic at the Ghent University Hospital, Belgium over a period of 3 years. Data regarding age, gender, reason for visit, year of visit, consequent appointments and treatment provided were collected. Statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics (frequency distribution) and Chi-square test, with significance level set as P < 0.05.
Results:
The number of patients visiting with a dental emergency increased annually. Approximately half (50.2%) of all paediatric dental emergency consultations were based on pain due to caries and its consequences. More than a quartile (26.7%) of emergency patients suffered from dental trauma of either primar or permanent teeth. The majority (96.7%) of the patients reported pain, 16.3% of the patients did not necessarily need immediate attention.
Conclusion:
Dental emergencies in a university hospital based setting were predominantly related to caries and trauma. A precise definition of dental emergencies is recommended in order to prevent abuse of paediatric emergency services.
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