Original Research. A Two-year Retrospective Study of Emergency Dental Treatments at Mureș County Emergency Hospital

Background: Emergency dental care is provided at the Mureș County Emergency Hospital in Tîrgu Mureș since February 2012, however, there is little information available regarding its activity. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and diagnosis of dental emergency cases treated in this dental office over the first two years. Material and methods: This two-year retrospective study was based on the analysis of patients’ dental records who were treated at the Dental Office of the Mureș County Emergency Hospital in Tîrgu Mureș. Results: In the first year 5567 patients were treated, whereas in the second year their number was significantly higher, 7213 patients. Pulp infections presented the highest prevalence in both years: 32.38% and 34.74%, respectively. Compared to the first year (n = 1,803) significantly more cases (p = 0.001) were treated with this diagnosis in the second year (n = 2,506). Periodontal infections were significantly more frequent (p <0.001) in the second year compared to the first - 951 cases (13.18%) vs. 681 (12.23%) cases. Conclusions: The main reasons of emergency dental treatments were dental and periodontal infections. The results suggest that dental care is unaffordable to socially disadvantaged persons, and this fosters radical treatment of pain in this free of charge 24 h dental emergency office.