Role of Computed Tomography Scan in Dental Trauma: A Cross-Sectional Study

Parents' knowledge of emergency management of avulsed permanent teeth in children and adolescents in the State of Qatar: a questionnaire cross-sectional study

PURPOSE

To elucidate the level of parental knowledge in Qatar regarding the management of avulsed teeth.

METHODS

A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 400 parents attending their children's routine dental appointments. The questionnaire comprised of items on sociodemographics, parents' prior knowledge on management of avulsion, parents' willingness to replant avulsed teeth at the site of injury, and parents' opinion as to the best format for future parental education on the management of dental trauma. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were employed to assess the association between sociodemographic status and knowledge in the management of avulsion.

RESULTS

The overall mean score of parents' knowledge was (23%). Only 23.3% (n = 93) of parents thought that it was possible to reinsert an avulsed permanent tooth. Out of those, only 12.9% (n = 12) indicated willingness to reinsert the tooth back into its socket, while 48.4% (n = 49) indicated that an avulsed tooth should be stored using physiological media. Less than one third (27.8%) indicated that they would seek professional help within 30 min. Males were less likely to give favourable answers when compared to females (OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22-0.84). Age groups "31-40" years and "41-50" years were more likely to give favourable answers when compared to 20-30 years age group (OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.05-8.0and OR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.3-11.48; respectively).

CONCLUSION

This study highlights critical deficiencies in parental knowledge on the management of tooth avulsion and the need to improve parents' knowledge by developing easily accessible onsite emergency management tools.

Dental Trauma on whole Body Trauma CT-An underreported finding

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.