Traumatic injuries to permanent incisors

The prevalence of traumatic injuries to permanent incisors and their distribution according to type and some clinical factors, were analysed in a total population of 2798 patients, aged 6-21 years, examined over a 5-year period in the Dental Clinic of the University of Verona, Italy. The material consisted of case histories and radiograms taken during the examination of injured teeth. The number of injured patients was 178 (131 males and 47 females), the number of injured incisors was 326. The prevalence of injuries was 7.3%. A very large number of dental injuries occurred to children aged between 6 and 13 years. The ratio of boys to girls was 2.7:1. Most frequent causes of injuries were falls and traffic accidents. Most injuries involved two teeth. About 80% of the teeth were maxillary central incisors. The most common type of injury was non complicated crown fracture. In 87 cases (48%) there was an associated injury to soft tissue. Alveolar fractures occurred in 22 cases (12%). Traumas involving periodontal ligament constituted nearly 40% of the total. This study noted the following points: 1) preventive education programs should be instituted in the region, directed at parents and school teachers, to inform them about the problems of dental trauma and to obtain cooperative attitude to treatment and good motivation in controls; 2) the necessity to unify the diagnostic and therapeutic protocol to provide reliable information in clinical investigations, to permit valid comparison with other studies and to improve the long-term prognosis of many cases.