Traumatic anterior dental injuries in Nigerian preschool children

Abstract

An epidemiological survey of 1,401 preschool children aged one to five years was carried out in 21 day care and nursery schools from Ile-Ife, Nigeria to determine by sex and age, the prevalence of traumatic injuries to primary incisors and canines with their distribution according to type of injuries. The prevalence of injuries was 30.8%. No significant difference in prevalence between boys and girls was reported. The most common type of injury in the population was enamel fracture (66.8%). Most of the children had only one traumatised tooth and maxillary central incisors were the most commonly involved teeth in trauma. There is need to provide adequate preventive and treatment care in view of the consequences on permanent dentition.