Cătălina Farcașiu, Alexandru-Titus Farcașiu, Aneta Munteanu, Ioana Stanciu, Rodica Luca
Children and adolescents present a high risk of dental injury during sports activities. The aim of the study was to gather epidemiological data about dental trauma in mixed dentition children who practice organized sport activities. Material and methods The study group consisted of 348 children (76.43 boys, 23.57% girls) aged 6-13 years, examined in the period January-July 2011 at the Sportsmen Ambulatory in Bucharest. Consent for the examination was obtained from the coaches/parents. Data was statistically analysed using SPSS 10 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA). Level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results The prevalence of dental trauma was 14.36%. The male/female ratio was 6.14/1 (43 boys/7girls). The 50 traumatized children had 65 teeth coronar fracture (1.3 affected teeth per children). The most common type of dental injury was the enamel fracture (66.15%).The maxillary central incisors were found to be the most affected, followed by lower central incisors. Conclusions Epidemiological data for this sample seems to fit between the few reported values from the literature. The high prevalence of sports related dental trauma advocates the use of oral protectors as efficient means in preventing these events.