173 - Dental-related Visits at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Emergency Department: Retrospective Study

Purpose: To assess dental-related-visits at the Nicklaus Children’s Emergency Department (ED) from 2016-2021.

Methods: Sample included encounters with a primary admitting diagnosis of caries, trauma, disorder of pulp and periapical tissues, disease and conditions of periodontium, and communicable diseases. Patients were categorized as having length of stay (LOS) < 24-hours and ≥24-hours. Counts and proportions were reported for categorical variables. Analysis were conducted in SAS version 9.4.

Results: In total, 3,220 encounters were included in the analysis and 92% had LOS of < 24-hours. Most of the patients; i.e. 31%, 21%, and 20% were aged 0-2, 3-5, 6-8 years old respectively. Children 0-2 years old had the highest proportion of ED-visits with LOS of < 24-hours, while children 6-8 years had the highest proportion of ED-visits with ≥24-hours. The most common admitting diagnosis for ED-visit were dental caries (17%) in patients with < 24-hours LOS, while disorder of pulp and periapical tissues (50%) was the most common among patients with ≥24-hours of LOS. About 2% of the patients had multiple encounters. Overall, a decline was observed in dental-related ED-visits from 2016 (22%) to 2021 (7%).

Conclusion: Although the proportion of dental-related-visits at the ED decreased in the past few years, caries continues to be the most common admitting diagnosis. The lack of an established dental home for the 0-2 year age-group may be one contributing factor for the highest number of ED-visits.