A retrospective study of 92 avulsed primary teeth in 69 children assisted at a dental urgency service

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological aspects associated with avulsion of primary teeth. The sample consisted of 92 avulsed teeth of 69 patients seen at the dental urgency service of the Dental School of the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, from 1998 to 2005. The data obtained from the records included children’s gender and age, causes of tooth avulsion, daily and monthly distribution, type and number of avulsed teeth and the treatment procedures. Frequency distribution and the chi-square test were calculated. The level of significance was set at 5% for all analyses. The highest incidence was found among boys (52.17%) aged 4 years (31.88%). The main etiologic factors were falls (82.61%) and traffic accidents (5.80%). Most cases occurred during weekdays (82.61%), from March to June (autumn; n=28; 40.58%) and from September to December (spring; n=18; 26.09%). Most avulsed teeth were maxillary central incisors (68.48%), followed by maxillary lateral incisors (22.83%). The most frequent treatments were analysis of clinical history and clinical exam (64 teeth; 69.57%) and space maintainer (18 teeth; 19.57%). The epidemiological and clinical aspects of tooth avulsion in this study were similar to those reported in other studies. There was a high number of avulsed primary teeth in boys aged less than 4 years and caused by falls.