Abstracts

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) in Taiwan, and to analyse the relationships between the occurrence of traumatic dental injuries and school type, age, gender, socio-economic status, family structure, overjet and lip morphology. Methods: A random sample of 6284 15–18-year-old academic and vocational senior high school students in southern Taiwan was selected. Each completed a questionnaire and was examined with standard clinical procedures. Results: Participation rate was 99.97%. The prevalence of TDI in Taiwan was 19.94% (95% C.I. 18.96%, 20.95%). Male adolescents (OR = 1.809, 95% C.I. 1.589, 2.058) attending private (OR = 1.158, 95% C.I. 1.004, 1.336) and/or vocational schools (OR = 1.200, 95% C.I. 1.030, 1.398), with an overjet greater than 5 mm (OR = 1.697, 95% C.I. 1.450, 1.985), inadequate lip morphology (OR = 1.350, 95% C.I. 1.189, 1.533), living with at least one nonbirth parent (OR = 1.274, 95% C.I. 1.013, 1.601), and/or having the middle educated chief guardian (OR = 1.210, 95% C.I. 1.039, 1.411), were found to be at greater risk of TDI. Conclusions: The prevalence of TDI in Taiwan was similar to that found in other countries. Correlates of TDI were gender, lip morphology, overjet, chief guardian's level of education, family structure and school type. Further investigation into the aetiology of TDI is indicated.