“Who forgot to brush their teeth?” – A Retrospective Study of Dental Abscesses in a Suburban Hospital in Portugal

Background: Odontogenic infection is a polymicrobial infection with different degrees of clinical severity. It is the most common type of oral infection and its treatment involves up to 10% of all antibiotic prescriptions leading to important costs in public health, parents and school absenteeism, loss of quality of life and miss of dental pieces. The costs of this evitable health problem are high.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to retrospectively assess characteristics of pediatric patients with odontogenic-based facial cellulitis that needed in-hospital treatment and describe management in a suburban Hospital in Portugal.

Methods: Data from clinical records of 34 patients who were admitted for in-hospital treatment of orofacial infection at the pediatric department from January 2015 to May 2019. Medical records were reviewed for all patients with a discharge diagnosis of facial cellulitis and tooth decay or buccal cellulitis.

Results: Thirty-four patient records were reviewed, 50% girls with a mean age of 11 years (4-17 years). The mean length of stay was six days. Thirteen of the patients had, at least, one parent with economic insufficiency.

In 62% antibiotic treatment was started prior to admission.

Treatment with intravenous antibiotics was needed in 94% of them, two-thirds using two or more different antibiotics. Cooperation with other specialities was frequent, mainly Stomatology (22 out of 34).

Conclusion: Tooth decay is a major public health problem and it’s a target of health programs. Nevertheless, many children and adolescents do not use these programs maintaining high incidence of dental abscesses that motivate hospital admission. There is a need for more motivation and information for parents and children regarding this important public health issue.