Traumatic dental injuries and associated factors in permanent incisors among 8 to 14 years old pupils in Ndola, Zambia

Background: Traumatic dental injuries in children are increasingly becoming a serious dental public health problem worldwide. Despite this fact, less attention has been directed to this problem compared to other common oral problems like dental caries.Aims: To determine the prevalence, causes and correlates of traumatic dental injuries among grades 4 to 7 pupils in Ndola Urban.Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2015.Methods: Multistage sampling technique was adopted to select participants from 9 zones of Ndola District. Traumatic Dental Injuries (TDI) were classified according to modified Ellis classification. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic, prevalence, causes, treatment and consequences of trauma. Clinical examination was done using a mouth mirror under natural light. Epi Data version 3.1 was used for data entry while SPSS version 16.0 was used for data analysis. Chi-square test was used to determine correlates for TDI. P-value ≤ 0.05 was taken as significant.Results: Out of 1570 children, 49 (3.1%) had TDI. Of the 49 children who had TDI, 44(89.9%) sustained one tooth injury. The most affected tooth was maxillary central incisors 47(95.9%) and class 1 was the commonest injury 35(71.4%). Most accidents occurred at home 31(63.3%) with the commonest cause implicated being playing sport (40.8%). None of the participants with TDI had received treatment following the injury at the time of examination.Conclusion: Prevalence of traumatic dental injuries was low. None of the injured had been treated.Keywords: Traumatic dental injuries, prevalence, causes, permanent incisor