DENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY

Berne, SwitzerlandAbstract – Displacement injuries of permanent teeth are an increas-ing emergency in the dental office. Children and adolescents are particularly prone to dental trauma due to participation in risky activitiess. Repositioning or replantation with subsequent stabiliza-tion by a dental splint is the standard of care for most displaced or avulsed permanent teeth. Non-rigid fixation allowing physiologic Key words: tooth injury; traumatic tooth tooth mobility has been shown to be desirable for periodontal heal- displacement; non-rigid splinting; titanium trauma splint; case reporting. A flexible splint of short duration appears to reduce the risk of dentoalveolar ankylosis or external replacement resorption. Differ- Dr. med. dent. Thomas von Arx, Department of Oral Surgery and Stomatology, School of Dentalent splinting techniques are currently recommended for stabiliza-Medicine, Freiburgstrasse 7, CH-3010 Berne,tion of repositioned or replanted teeth, including a wire-composite Switzerland splint, an orthodontic bracket splint or a resin splint. Each splinting Tel: 41 31 632 2566 option has its specific advantages and shortcomings. This paper Fax: 41 31 632 9884 e-mail: thomas.vonarx/zmk.unibe.chdescribes a new splinting technique which offers improved comfor