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Oral injuries in children: comparison of those children who visit and do not visit the after‐hours clinic after telephone consultation
Author(s) -
Horie Norio,
Shimoyama Tetsuo,
Hasegawa Kiyoe,
Kaneko Takahiro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
dental traumatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1600-9657
pISSN - 1600-4469
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-9657.2005.00313.x
Subject(s) - medicine , evening , triage , telephone call , physical examination , oral examination , medical emergency , medical advice , telephone interview , injury prevention , family medicine , pediatrics , poison control , emergency medicine , oral health , surgery , psychiatry , social science , physics , astronomy , sociology , electrical engineering , engineering
– Pediatric patients who sustain oral and dental injuries during the evening or night require telephone consultation and/or examination at our regional medical center in the oral surgery clinic. Between April 1, 2001 and March 31, 2003, a total of 393 patients (1–15 years old) sought advice; 67.7% came for a visit and examination after telephone consultation (visited patients) and 32.3% received telephone advice, but did not need to come for a medical visit (non‐visited patients). The busiest consulting time for both groups was the evening time band. Soft tissue injuries were the most frequent in both visited and non‐visited patients, 66.9 and 85.0% respectively. Particularly in non‐visited patients, the upper lip was the most significantly affected site (57.4%). The most common cause of injuries was falls (84.2% of visited and 77.2% of non‐visited patients). Of non‐visited patients, the most common reason not to visit was a minor injury that did not require examination (87.4%). We recommend that a personal telephone call from a dentist is important because telephone consultation can help triage patients and provide relief for the patient's guardians.