The objective of this study is to do a trend analysis of product- related data on injuries to teeth, face and jaws, including an analysis of frequencies of such injuries related to specific consumer products, on data compiled by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), maintained by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). NEISS collects almost daily data on product-related injuries from a probability sample of all hospital emergency departments in the U.S. and its territories. From these data estimates can be made of product-related injuries associated with, but not necessarily caused by, consumer products and treated in hospital emergency departments. This system excludes injuries associated with automobile accidents, but includes injuries associated with sports and recreational vehicles. Although the system does not provide for collection of data on specific types of injuries to teeth, it is possible to obtain these data through an analysis of the comments on the injuries included in the data base. Data tapes obtained from CPSC have been processed to record data on specific types of tooth injuries and a preliminary analysis of the data has been carried out. Analysis of summary statistics on data from 1979 through 1985 showed a decreasing trend in mouth and face injuries after a slight peak in 1981. There was, however, a consistent but slight upward trend seen in injuries to teeth during this period. Plans call for more detailed analyses of the data.
