Avulsion of primary teeth and sequelae on the permanent successors

Abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts

Abstract

About 1/3 of permanent successors suffered developmental disturbances.

Main

Christopherson P, Freund M et al. Dent Traumatol 2005; 21: 320–323

There is little information on avulsion of primary teeth and subsequent effects on their successors. This study centred on a population of 4238 children born over an 18 yr period and subsequently seen in 3 Danish dental clinics.

In this population, 35 children were identified (prevalence 0.8%) with a total of 44 teeth which had been avulsed. Permanent successors which had not fully erupted by the end of the period were excluded from the study. Maxillary incisors were most frequently involved (39 cases).

By the end of the study, 33 successors had fully erupted and 10 had developmental disturbances: 5 had discolouration only, 3 had discolouration and hypoplasia, and 2, discolouration and horizontal enamel hypoplasia. There was a greater risk of developmental disturbances in children who were younger at the time of injury.