ETIOLOGY AND PATTERN OF DENTOALVEOLAR INJURIES IN PATIENTS AT ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF DENTISTRY, RAWALPINDI

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the etiology and pattern of dentoalveolar injuries in patients presenting to oral surgery department of Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry, Rawalpindi.
Study design: Cross sectional study
Place and duration of study: Oral Surgery department, Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry, Rawalpindi. One year from September 2008 to August 2009.
Patients and methods: 138 consecutive patients presenting to oral surgery department with dentoalveolar injuries irrespective of the age and gender were included in the study. Edentulous patients, patients with only soft tissue injury and patients with other maxillofacial injuries but no dentoalveolar injury were excluded from the study. The included patients were asked about the cause of injury and the pattern of injury was noted clinically. This information was collected on specially designed proformas. All injuries were classified according to Andersean’s classification.
Results: Out of these 138 patients, 111(80.4%) were males with a male to female ratio of 4.1:1. The age ranged from 2-65 years with a mean age of 21.22years. RTA was the most common cause of injury and was seen in 58 (42%) patients. Followed by fall noted in 52 (37.7%) patients. Other causes observed were contact sports in 7 (5.1%), violence in 4 (2.9%) and work place accident in 7 (5.1%) patients. Regarding pattern, the most common type of injury was avulsion and subluxation followed by crown fractures, luxation, root fractures and tooth displacements in various directions.
Conclusion: Males especially the young lot was more affected by dentoalveolar trauma. RTA and fall remain the main causes of these injuries in our population. Avulsion, subluxation and luxation were the most common patterns of trauma observed. Maxillary incisors were the most commonly affected teeth in these traumatic episodes.