Clinical Findings of Patients with Dental Emergencies

Abstract

Background and purpose: Some patients need emergency dental care and people with low economic status are more likely to go to hospital emergency departments. There is lack of enough knowledge about dental emergencies and no accurate data is available on this issue. This study aimed at investigating clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients in dental emergency departments. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in patients with dental complaints attending emergency departments affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2017-2018. Data were analyzed in SPSS V 16. Results: A total of 1660 patients (mean age: 36.80±15.50 years) were studied. The most common reasons for attending the emergency department were dental trauma (n=886) and dental infections (n=353). The highest referral times were evenings and nights (n=1130). Compared with women, men were found with more dental trauma and soft tissue injuries (P= 0.0001). Conclusion: Special training programs should be provided to the staff in hospital emergency departments so that they can obtain sufficient information and skills about triage, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of dental emergencies.

Keywords

• dental emergency
• emergency department
• trauma