Dental Trauma among School Children at Age 7-12 Years in Fallujah City, Anbar Governorate, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Dental trauma often occurs among children, as well as adolescents and adults. It is however more frequent among children. The permanent anterior teeth are more exposed to trauma especially at age 9-10 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on school children in Fallujah city, Anbar governorate, Iraq. The sample size was 2830, for both gender - boys (1430) and girl (1400). Their ages range between 7 to 12 years. The dental trauma was classified according to the modified Ellis and Davey fracture crown. Prior to the examination of each subject, the children were interviewed to record information regarding age, gender, number of the tooth and type of dental trauma. Results: Prevalence of dental trauma was 5.68% (161) for both genders. Boys were 101 (62.73%) and 60 girls (37.26%). The boys/girls ratio was 1.68:1. The highest frequency of fractured teeth occurred at 9-10 years old. The most frequently affected by dental trauma were the maxillary central incisors (96.90%), among them 45.35% of the cases involving the right central incisor and 51.55% of the cases involving the left central incisor. The upper jaw teeth were more frequently affected by dental trauma. The most frequent dental trauma was: class I crown fracture (48.44%), followed by class II (45.96%) and class III (5.6%) and class IV (0%) respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of traumatic fractured teeth is low. Preventive measures should be taken into consideration such as wearing of mouth guard especially for children who are at an early stage of psychophysical development and who are in active of life to reduce dental trauma