The trauma of dental trauma

This was the question addressed by Professor Helen Rodd in the Charles Tomes lecture given recently. Her topic was ‘The trauma of trauma: psychosocial impacts of dental injury in childhood.’

Professor Rodd’s overall message was that the psychosocial impact of both the injury and the treatment can be profound and much more could and should be done to help children recover from lost or broken teeth. There also needs to be more research to understand how children cope with injury and treatment.

Around 12 per cent of British 12-year-olds experience injury to one or more of their permanent incisors. Of that percentage, boys are likely to outnumber girls by 2:1. Meanwhile, 4 per cent of 15-year-olds who have an accident report that they fear their injury will be a lifelong burden.

Professor Rod said, “To date, we have been not at all good at including patient reported outcome measures in clinical trials.”

“What value is a fabulous MTA apical barrier if the patient’s evaluation of their own dental appearance and willingness to smile was not also sought as a core outcome?”