Traumatic dental injuries in a sample of Dominican schoolchildren

The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyze 1) the prevalence of traumatic injuries to permanent incisors and canines, 2) their distribution according to type, 3) etiology, 4) place of occurrence, and 5) location of trauma, in a population sample of schoolchildren from the Dominican Republic, located in the Caribbean Archipelago. The sample consisted of 596 children aged 7-14 years enrolled in 21 public and private schools from the city of San Pedro de Macoris, in the southeastern part of the country. This sample represents 10.8% of the schoolchildren of the city. The prevalence of injuries was 18.1% (17.4% in boys and 18.8% in girls). The largest number of injuries was found in the 14-year-old children followed by the 12-year-olds. Significantly, girls had a larger number of actual teeth injured than boys (P less than 0.05). The most common type of injury in both sexes was the enamel fracture (51.1%) followed by concussions (25.6%). Significantly, more girls suffered concussions than boys (P less than 0.05). The most common cause of injury in both sexes was falling against an object (60.0% in boys and 42.6% in girls). The most frequent place of occurrence of trauma, in both sexes, was at home (34.1%), followed by outside of home (19.3%) and at school (12.5%). The teeth most commonly injured were the maxillary central incisors (63.9%). Girls presented significantly more mandibular lateral incisors injured than boys (P less than 0.02).