Epidemiologic data on the occurrence and distribution of oral and facial injuries and associated risk factors are needed in order to develop appropriate preventive strategies. Although published data on this topic are very sparse, there are several ongoing national and regional injury surveillance systems that collect useful date on oral and facial trauma. For several reasons, including the tendency of each agency to collect information suited to its own needs, these sources of data are variable with respect to their purposes, scope and methods of collection, and cannot easily be interpreted. The objectives of this project are to examine the methodology, types of data collected, strengths and weaknesses of several public-domain and private databases from which information on oral and facial trauma may be gleaned. These include the National Electronic injury Surveillance System, National Health Interview Survey, National Hospital Discharge Survey, National Accident Sampling System, Supplementary Data System of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and surveillance systems of certain Athletic and Sports Associations. Based on a preliminary analysis of the available data, capsule information on each of these data systems was prepared and distributed to participants taking part in the annual meeting of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) and the National Oral Health Conference, held this year. The ultimate goal of this project is to determine the overall magnitude, characteristics and trends in oral and facial trauma, in the United States, pieced together from these various surveillance systems, in order to help develop appropriate preventive strategies.
