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. 2022 Apr;48(2):1055-1060.
doi: 10.1007/s00068-021-01633-z. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Dental Trauma on whole Body Trauma CT-An underreported finding

Hans-Jonas Meyer #  1 , Dominik Schramm #  2 , Andreas Gunter Bach  2 , Alexander Eckert  3 , Alexey Surov  4
Affiliations

Dental Trauma on whole Body Trauma CT-An underreported finding

Hans-Jonas Meyer et al. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of dental injuries (DI) in polytrauma patients is unknown. The purpose of our study was to identify the frequency of dental injuries on whole body CTs acquired in a trauma setting and to estimate how often they are correctly reported by the radiologist.

Methods: In the time period between 2006 and 2018 the radiological database of one university hospital was screened for whole-body trauma CTs. A total of 994 CTs were identified and re-evaluated.

Results: Dental injuries were identified in 127 patients (12.8% of patients). There were 27 women (21.3%) and 100 men (78.7%) with a mean age of 51.0 ± 18.9 years (range 10-96 years). Regarding localization, most findings involved the molars (n = 107, 37.4%), followed by the incisors (n = 81, 28.3%), premolars (n = 59, 20.6%) and canines (n = 39, 13.7%). Most common findings were as follows: luxations (n = 49, 45.8%), followed by crown fractures (n = 46, 43%), root fractures (n = 10, 9.3%), extrusions (n = 1, 0.9%), and intrusions (n = 1, 0.9%). Only 15 findings (11.8% of all patients with dental injuries) were described in the original radiological reports.

Conclusion: DI had a high occurrence in polytrauma patients. A high frequency of underreported dental trauma findings was identified. Radiologists reporting whole-body trauma CT should be aware of possible dental trauma to report the findings adequately.

Keywords: CT; Dental trauma; Whole body CT.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Maximum intensity projection in the coronal plane of a 64-years old male patient. Avulsion of the right lower incisor with an associated non-displaced fracture of the mandible. The tooth is directly adjacent to the tube. b Axial plane. The finding was correctly reported by the radiologist
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Maximum intensity projection in the coronal plane of a 21-years old male patient. Root fracture of the left upper incisor. The patient suffered from a complex fracture of the skull, yet no direct adjacent fracture to the tooth. This dental finding was not reported by the radiologist. b The tooth fragment can also be appreciated in the axial plane
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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