Is dental trauma more prevalent in maltreated children? A comparative Study in Southern Brazil

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although a high prevalence of head and neck trauma has been reported in maltreated children and adolescents, most of these studies focused on record-based analyses, and only a few used control groups. AIM: To assess the presence of dental trauma in maltreated children in comparison with children without a history of maltreatment. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study with 68 maltreated children and 204 age, sex-, and school-matched control participants was conducted in Pelotas, a Southern Brazilian city. Socioeconomic and demographic data were collected. Clinical examinations were performed to evaluate dental trauma (O'Brien Index) and dental caries (WHO criteria). Fisher's exact and chi-squared tests were used for intergroup comparisons of socioeconomic and clinical variables. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to obtain adjusted odds ratios (OR). RESULTS: The prevalence of dental trauma was 23.53% (n = 16) among maltreated children and 14.22% (n = 29) in the comparative group. After adjustment, the occurrence of dental trauma showed association with child maltreatment, with an OR of 2.14 (95% confidence interval 1.03-4.44) for maltreated children in comparison with children in the comparative group (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Maltreated children presented with more dental trauma than those with no history of maltreatment.