Traumatic injuries to teeth in Swedish children living in an urban area.

The prevalence of dental injuries in the permanent dentition was studied in a population comprising 1635 Swedish school children aged 7-15 years. A retrospective study of dental injuries in the deciduous dentition was also carried out. A total of 483 (30%) children in the material had experienced dental injuries. Twelve per cent of the injuries had been sustained before the age of 7 years and 18 per cent after that age. The majority of injuries had occurred between the ages 3-10 years. In the permanent dentition, over 75 per cent of the injuries recorded had been sustained before the age of 11 years. Boys had a higher trauma frequency than girls, the sex ratio being 1.2:1 in the deciduous dentition and 1.6:1 in the permanent dentition. Thirty per cent of the injured deciduous teeth required some kind of treatment. The corresponding figure for the permanent dentition was 46 per cent.