Traumatic Dental Injuries and Its Relation to Overweight among Indian School Children Living in an Urban Area.

AIM The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries to permanent incisors and explore the association between dental trauma and overweight in a sample of school children residing in an urban area. Our hypothesis was that there was a significant association between overweight and the presence of dental trauma among urban children. MATERIAL AND METHODS This cross-sectional survey included 858 school children aged 10-12 years, of both sexes, randomly selected from 12 schools in urban Bangalore, India. The dental examination for traumatic injuries included only maxillary and mandibular permanent incisors. Anthropometric data were collected and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated (weight in kg/(height in meters)(2). RESULTS The prevalence of Traumatic Dental Injuries (TDI) was 15.04% and boys experienced more traumatic injuries than girls, but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). OW boys sustained more TDI than OW girls and the association between dental trauma and OW was statistically significant (p<0.05; OR=3.85; 95% CI=2.62-5.24). CONCLUSION Overweight could be considered a significant risk factor for the occurrence of TDI to permanent incisors in Indian school children residing in urban areas.