[Accidents in young children in Flanders. Place of dental accidents in epidemiologic studies].

Accidents requiring professional intervention were registered during 1 year in a population of nearly 6,500 Flemish children younger than 3 years. First, some professional records placed the children in their social context. Each month the parents were interviewed about the circumstances of the accidents, the need for professional help, the injuries, etc. Nearly 25% of the children had an accident during this study, needing professional help. The most frequent causes were falling (55.4%), cutting (11.4%), crushing (8.9%) and burning (7.6%). The most dangerous places were the kitchen and the living room (50%); the most frequent injuries were the open wound (42.2%), contusions (20.1%) and burns (7.8%). Only 5.6% needed the help of a family doctor. Only 2.8% of the accidents had consequences for the mouth and teeth, mostly following a fall on a level surface; 75% of these needed a dentist. The records were compared with other studies in Western Europe. Only the structure of the family (one or two parents) had an influence on the records.