Dental injury among Brazilian schoolchildren in the state of São Paulo

Abstract

To describe the distribution of dental trauma in Brazilian schoolchildren and its association with demographic, environmental and clinical factors. A random sample of 73 243 schoolchildren's oral examination records from private and public units, selected from 131 cities within the state of São Paulo, Brazil, was analysed. Trauma was assessed based on international methodological standards prescribed by the World Health Organization for Oral Health Surveys (1997). Proportions obtained were compared between urban and rural schools, as well as between private and public units. Oral health status indices were estimated based on the decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index - the average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth; the proportion of caries-free 5-year-old schoolchildren and anterior maxillary overjet among 12-year-old schoolchildren. The prevalence of dental trauma in anterior dentition was of 2.4, enrolling average 1.2 teeth per child. A rate of 2.4 impaired anterior teeth per thousand was obtained, upper central incisors being those that were most affected - 7.7 in every 10. Among 8- to 11-year-old children, the rates grew regularly. The proportion of dental trauma was significantly higher in boys than in girls (P < 0.01), and gender prevalence ratio was of 1.58 for boys. The results showed positive associations between dental trauma and caries-free 5-year-old schoolchildren (P = 0.003), anterior maxillary overjet > or =3 mm (P < 0.001), and private school as a socio-economic proxy indicator (P = 0.048).

A Prospective Study of Dentoalveolar Trauma at the Hospital Das Clínicas, São Paulo University Medical School

“…Prospective studies significantly reduce the incidence of recording errors from previous traumas, which depend on information from family members or medical files of previous trauma history 2 . Dentoalveolar traumas have been investigated for several years to gather information about their characteristics, etiology and most commonly affected patients, which is of paramount importance to contribute in preventing their occurrence 3,4 .…”

“…Studies on dentoalveolar traumas are generally performed at schools in large or middle-sized cities 2,4,5 , middle-sized hospitals 6 and Dental Schools 7,8 . The city of São Paulo in Brazil is the second largest in Latin America and is an outstanding national medical reference center.…”

Assessment of dentistry sequelae in civil expertise

“…Referring to Andreasen`s trauma classification criteria (17,21), we can suggest that coronal dental trauma may be evaluated as a body injury, as it is observed in 21.9% of our sample and in 8.9% of the total injuries of the study in the city of Porto (13). Until the present date, it has not been considered an injury in the "National Evaluation of Permanent Incapacities Table on Civil Law" issues (22), which is responsible to give value to permanent sequels of the physical and psychiatric integrity on each case.…”

Obesidade e saúde bucal: impacto da obesidade sobre condições bucais

“…As lesões dentárias traumáticas são uma das principais emergências infantis, não somente pela prevalência ser expressiva, principalmente, no que se diz respeito a áreas de grande privação social e material 50 , mas, também, por gerar comprometimento à qualidade de vida dos indivíduos com danos irreversíveis à dentição permanente 46 . Ainda que ocorram outros fatores que aumentem o risco de traumatismo dentário, como: sobressaliência maxilar excessiva, cobertura labial inadequada e alto nível social 45 , são poucos os estudos que envolvem o trauma dentário com o estado nutricional. A maioria dos trabalhos existentes não trazem uma conclusão definida sobre o tema, como pode ser verificado em uma revisão sistemática conduzida por Goettems et al 11 .…”