Traumatic dental injuries and its effect on quality of life in 12 to 15-year-old children in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and aetiology of dental trauma and evaluate the effect of untreated traumatized anterior teeth on the quality of life of children age 12 to 15 in a developing country. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1,575 children. Examinations were carried out on all participants and the Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ) was used to assess the QoL of children who were aware of their trauma. Results: Prevalence was 20.2% (318 participants) with a male preponderance (1.3:1.0). Peak age group of incidences was 8 to 12 years with a frequent occurrence at 11 and 8 years for males and females respectively. Two hundred and five (64.5%) of the 318 participants with trauma to anterior teeth had enamel fractures and maxillary centrals (76.5%) were the most frequently injured teeth. Falls (61.7%) and home (60.7%) were the commonest cause of trauma and location of occurrence respectively. One hundred and ninety-six participants were aware of their dental injury. About 62% of the participants who sustained trauma reported a negative impact on their daily life. ‘Pain’ and ‘difficulty with chewing’ were the most affected QoL domains. Overall, 84.7% of the participants had their oral health related quality of life negatively impacted by dental trauma. Conclusion: Dental trauma had a negative impact on the QoL of the adolescents.