Dental Trauma on whole Body Trauma CT—An underreported finding

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of dental injuries (DI) in polytrauma patients is unknown. The purpose of our study was to identify the frequency of dental injuries on whole body CTs acquired in a trauma setting and to estimate how often they are correctly reported by the radiologist. Methods: In the time period between 2006 and 2018 the radiological database of one university hospital was screened for whole-body trauma CTs. A total of 994 CTs were identified and re-evaluated. Results: Dental injuries were identified in 127 patients (12.8% of patients). There were 27 women (21.3%) and 100 men (78.7%) with a mean age of 51.0 ± 18.9 years (range 10–96 years). Regarding localization, most findings involved the molars (n = 107, 37.4%), followed by the incisors (n = 81, 28.3%), premolars (n = 59, 20.6%) and canines (n = 39, 13.7%). Most common findings were as follows: luxations (n = 49, 45.8%), followed by crown fractures (n = 46, 43%), root fractures (n = 10, 9.3%), extrusions (n = 1, 0.9%), and intrusions (n = 1, 0.9%). Only 15 findings (11.8% of all patients with dental injuries) were described in the original radiological reports. Conclusion: DI had a high occurrence in polytrauma patients. A high frequency of underreported dental trauma findings was identified. Radiologists reporting whole-body trauma CT should be aware of possible dental trauma to report the findings adequately.