Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) occur with great frequency in preschool, school-age children, and young adults comprising 5% of all injuries for which people seek treatment (1, 2). A 12-year review of the literature reports that 25% of all school children experience dental trauma and 33% of adults have experienced trauma to the permanent dentition, with the majority of injuries occurring before age nineteen (3). Luxation injuries are the most common TDIs in the primary dentition, whereas crown fractures are more commonly reported for the permanent dentition (1, 4, 5) TDIs present a challenge to clinicians worldwide. Consequently, proper diagnosis, treatment planning and follow up are critical to assure a favorable outcome.
Guidelines, among other things, should assist dentists, other healthcare professionals, and patients in decision making. Also, they should be credible, readily under- standable, and practical with the aim of delivering appropriate care as effectively and efficiently as possible.
The following guidelines by the International Associ- ation of Dental Traumatology (IADT) represent an updated set of guidelines based on the original guidelines published in 2007 (6–8). The update was accomplished by doing a review of the current dental literature using EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PUBMED searches from 1996 to 2011 as well as a search of the journal of Dental Traumatology from 2000 to 2011. Search words included tooth fractures, root fractures, tooth luxation, lateral luxation and permanent teeth, intruded permanent teeth, and luxated permanent teeth.