Prevalence of Traumatic Dental Injury in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Traumatic dental injury is an injury inflicted on the dentoalveolar system. It has aphysical as well as a psychological impact. Despite this concern, epidemiological data regarding itsprevalence is insufficient in the literature of Nepal. Hence, this study’s objective was to investigatethe prevalence of traumatic dental injuries for the patients visiting Universal College of MedicalSciences, Bhairahawa, Nepal, over five years. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using records from the medical recordsection for the patients presenting at the dental emergency outpatient department of the UniversalCollege of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa, Nepal, between April 2014 and April 2019. Ethical approvalwas taken from the Institutional Review Committee of the Universal College of Medical Sciences.Patient demographic data, type of traumatic dental injuries, and etiologies were evaluated from therecord section. Results: Out of 10,080 patients registered during the study period, 793 patients (7.86%) were due totraumatic dental injury, out of which 628 (79.2%) were male, and 165 (20.8%) were female. The mostvulnerable age group was 20-29 years (42.4%). Most frequently, injuries occurred in June (16%). Roadtraffic accidents (57.8 %) were the most common mode, and complicated crown-root fracture (23.3%)was the most common type of traumatic dental injury. Conclusions: The frequency of 7.86% of traumatic dental injury indicates that dental traumatologyneeds special attention for policy planning and professional training.