Dental Trauma Prevalence and Disability Types: A Comparative Study Among Children and Adolescents in Delhi Ncr Region, India.

Abstract

Introduction:  Dental trauma (DT) has emerged as a critical component of dental public health. The hazards and repercussions of DT, on the other hand, have rarely been explored in the impaired community.

Aim: The goal of this study was to investigate and compare the prevalence of DT among disabled children and adolescents in special needs schools in Delhi-NCR, India.

Materials and Methods: The study included 868 children and adolescents aged 4–19 years who were classified as having a visual impairment, speech and hearing (SH) disability, physical disability, mentally subnormal, or multiple disabilities (MD) and were enrolled in 18 special needs schools in the Delhi NCR region. DT was recorded based on Ellis and Davey’s classification. Association between the trauma prevalence and disability types were analyzed using Chi-square test.

Results:  The prevalence of DT was discovered to be 29.7%. MD children were the most traumatised (41.81%), whereas SH children were the least traumatised (19.21 percent ). Trauma prevalence was found to have a statistically significant relationship with gender, geographic location, anterior teeth protrusion, and lip coverage. The most commonly affected teeth were the maxillary central incisors, and the most common type of traumatic injury was an Ellis class 1 fracture. None of the children had had any DT treatment.

Conclusion: This should prompt the responsible individuals to conduct a thorough inquiry into the incidents, and dental experts and public health officials should take preventive efforts to reduce this sort of morbidity