Traumatic dental injury research: on children or with children?

Abstract

Background and aim It is widely acknowledged that children should participate in healthcare decisions, service development and even setting research agendas. Dental traumatology is a major component of paediatric dentistry practice and research. However, little is known about young patients’ contribution to new knowledge in this field. The aim of the study was to establish the extent to which children are involved in contemporary dental trauma research and to evaluate the quality of the related literature. Material and methods A systematic review of the dental trauma literature was conducted from 2006 to 2014. The electronic databases, MEDLINE and Scopus, were used to identify relevant studies. The selected papers were independently examined by five calibrated reviewers. Studies were categorized by the degree of children's involvement and appraised using a validated quality assessment tool. Results The initial search yielded 4374 papers. After application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 96 studies remained. Research on children accounted for 87.5% of papers, and a proxy was involved in 4.2%. Children were engaged to some degree in only 8.3% of studies, and there were no studies where children were active research participants. In the quality assessment exercise, papers scored, on average, 57% (range = 14–86%). Conclusion There is scope to encourage more active participation of children in dental trauma research in the future. Furthermore, there are some areas where the quality of research could be improved overall.

Evidence mapping and quality assessment of systematic reviews in dental traumatology

“…Forty‐four SRs had been published in last six years (2015‐2020) 18‐78 . Twenty‐eight of the SRs had been published in Dental Traumatology, 16,17,20‐27,29,30,36,39‐41,44,45,59,60,67,69,71,74,75,77,78 and five were from the Cochrane database 38,46,50,53,70 . The remaining SRs were spread across journals in general dentistry, sports medicine, orthodontics, special care dentistry, endodontics, maxillofacial radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, pediatric dentistry, oral sciences, periodontology, community dentistry, epidemiology, dental hygiene, education sciences, and restorative dentistry (Table 3).…”

Impact of traumatic dental injuries on oral health-related quality of life of preschool children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, no previous systematic review has investigated the impact of TDI on the OHRQoL of preschool children and their families. The clarification of this issue could contribute to the identification of oral problems that should be prioritized in the planning and definition of cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies on both the individual and collective levels [ 9 , 16 ]. Moreover, such information should be considered in the education and training of healthcare professionals, who should focus primarily on outcomes identified as clinically relevant.…”

Unpowered Scooter-Related Injuries among Adolescents and Adults in the United States 2007-2017

“…Internal injuries that included severe damage to face, dental injuries, and tracheal injuries sustained through accidents related to unpowered scooters use have been reported although there was no death [10]. A study done in Finland also reported that the majority of their study subjects (69%) sustained fractures, while 26% had injuries that required anesthesia and surgical intervention [11] [12] [13].…”