Retrospective Analysis of Dento-alveolar Injuries at a Swiss University Clinic (2011-2015)

The aim of this study was to evaluate all dento-alveolar injuries occurring within a period of 5 years that were examined at the Department of Oral Surgery and Stomatology at the University of Bern. The case histories of 852 patients (522 males and 330 females) were assessed retrospectively. The mean age was 17 years and 9 months. The youngest patient was 10 months old, the oldest was 91 years old. Most accidents were recorded in the months of March and July. Friday was observed as the weekday when accidents were at their peak. 54% of trauma patients were first examined on the day of the accident. The most frequent causes of accident were falls, cycling or sports accidents. Injury types included concussion (72.4%), subluxation (14%) and luxation (7.7%). Crown fractures without pulp exposure were recorded in 522 teeth (10.7%). Rare types of trauma were crown fractures with pulp exposure (3.7%), and avulsion injuries (3.2%). The most frequently affected teeth were central incisors (40%), followed by lateral incisors (35.6%) and canines (19.5%). 71.5% of the patients with dento-alveolar trauma also had soft-tissue injuries (from abrasions to lacerations), mostly lip (51.6%), gingival (19%), and chin injuries (10.9%). The multivariate analysis showed that age had a significant impact on concussions, subluxations, intrusions, crown fractures, root fractures and non-oral injuries. For concussions and subluxations, the probability of an injury was the highest for the mixed dentition group. For intrusions, the probability of an injury decreased with age, but it was vice versa for crown fractures, root fractures and non-oral injuries. It was found that bicycle injuries had the highest injury probability for avulsions, luxations, subluxations, soft tissue - and non-oral injuries.