E-scooters: a new cause of dental trauma
Controversial method of transport poses a risk to dental health
Electric scooters have introduced an additional cause of dental trauma, according to a new study1.
E-scooters are regarded by the UK’s Department of Transport as a key component of its strategy to decarbonise transport and, in 2020, it initiated a series of trials across England to “understand their environmental impact, safety, and mode shift potential to evaluate whether they should be legalised.”
The study, published in the British Dental Journal, aimed to examine dental injuries sustained during the two years following initiation of the trial.
Research was conducted at a UK, level 1, supra-regional major trauma centre. All eligible patient records were analysed to identify e-scooter-related dental injuries to the following regions: teeth, periodontium, alveolus, palate, tongue, floor of mouth, frenum, buccal mucosa and lips.
Of the 32 patients who experienced a total of 71 dental injuries, 46.5% (n = 33) affected teeth, predominantly upper central incisors (n = 17). ‘Lacerations’ (n = 14) and ‘lip’ (n = 11) were the most common type and site of soft tissue injuries, respectively. Unprovoked falls by riders accounted for 53.1% (n = 17) of the injuries.
The authors concluded: “E-scooters are a new form of transport that can be the cause of hard tissue and soft tissue dental injuries. The rise in e-scooter-related dental injuries over the two-year period underscores the need for government-instigated e-scooter safety precautions.”
Footnotes
- E-scooter-related dental injuries: a two-year retrospective review www.nature.com
