Evaluation of elementary education teachers’ knowledge on avulsion and tooth replantation

Abstract

Introduction: Dental trauma care emergency is very important issue, especially in cases of avulsion and it is crucial for the prognosis. A preventive-educational approach had not been effective and there are many failures in handling dental trauma, mainly by lack of knowledge by health professionals, teachers and lay people. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of 89 teachers about dental trauma. Material and methods: A questionnaire divided into three parts containing questions about the emergency procedures in cases of dental trauma was applied. Results: Only 13% of teachers would replant the tooth in the socket, and only 7% said they would put the tooth in some liquid and 58% would store in a piece of paper, cloth or clean container. In relation to replantation, 75% reported that they would hold the tooth by the crown, 79% reported that first they would refer to the dentist, and 80% thought that the treatment had to be immediate. With regard to tooth preparation, 46% would keep it in saline, 24% in water, and only 11% in milk. Concerning to the avulsed tooth, only 15% correctly answered that they would replant the avulsed tooth and then referred to the dentist. Conclusion: It was concluded that the knowledge of teachers must be improved by educational and preventive campaigns on management of traumatized teeth.

Knowledge of Australian primary education providers towards dental avulsion injuries: a cross‐sectional study

“…Though these results may appear low, they must be interpreted with caution. Their selection is in line with international cohorts, affirming the conclusion of other studies that more education in avulsion management is required to reduce deleterious consequences …”

“…Upon examination of potential handling of a tooth, a large proportion of participants in this study (57.8%) chose to either not respond to the question or elected other damaging practices to clean the tooth. The large proportion of participants who did not answer or selected harmful handling methods supports the hypothesis that there is a lack of knowledge on avulsion management amongst school professionals currently, similar to other international cohorts …”

“…For these reasons, it comes as no surprise that over 90% of participants were supportive of receiving formal avulsion management advice. The universality in the lack of preparedness and desire for further information among school professionals is apparent, similar to global cohorts . It is also shown that despite the apparent under‐preparedness, the few school professionals who had received avulsion education were shown to significantly consider themselves more prepared to handle an avulsion TDI.…”

“…The prognosis of avulsion injuries is often dependent on the decisions and actions taken by attending first‐aiders and inevitably relies on their knowledge of factors such as urgency, manipulation, replantation and transportation. Despite their ideal positioning, school professionals have largely been shown to lack the knowledge and skills required to effectively handle such situations in international cohorts . A similar lack of knowledge in this regard has been found among parents, physical education graduates, fire‐fighters, emergency department physicians and nurses …”

“…Despite their ideal positioning, school professionals have largely been shown to lack the knowledge and skills required to effectively handle such situations in international cohorts. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] A similar lack of knowledge in this regard doi: 10.1111/adj.12732…”