Knowledge and skills of emergency physicians in managing traumatic dental injuries

Abstract

Purpose Emergency departments are frequently confronted with traumatic dental injuries (TDIs). The prognosis of the injured tooth is related to early dental trauma management. For this reason, physicians must be familiar with the appropriate management of TDI. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and skills of German emergency physicians regarding TDI. Methods An electronic questionnaire was sent to 438 emergency departments throughout Germany. Four hundred and twenty seven questionnaires were evaluated and included in the analysis. The survey contained questions about physician characteristics and assessed their knowledge and skills of managing dental trauma. For statistical analysis, the Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U test or ANOVA test was used as appropriate. Rank correlations were performed with the Spearman’s rank correlation. Results Out of 427 participants, 256 (59.95%) stated they had no or insufficient knowledge, and 266 (71.12%) stated they had no skills in dental trauma management. Almost 76% of the participants had no previous knowledge of dentistry. Only 7.28% knew the right procedure for replanting an avulsed tooth. Just 26.06% would choose the right medium for temporary tooth storage. Having a dentist in the family (p = 0.0074) or clinical exposure to patients with dental trauma (p = 0.0384) influenced the results of the knowledge score. Conclusion The knowledge and skills in dental trauma management among German emergency physicians are generally inadequate. Targeted training courses are necessary to ensure early and adequate TDI treatment to reduce the resulting medical and societal costs as much as possible.

Evaluation of Knowledge and Practice of Resident Dentists in Iasi, Romania in the Management of Traumatic Dental Injuries: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The ideal treatment of tooth avulsion that can ensure long-term success is immediate replantation. Transport media are used to maintain the viability of periodontal ligament cells, increase their survival, and prevent any damage that could cause future tooth loss, such as ankylosis and resorption [37][38][39].…”

“…In the specialized literature, the percentage of correct answers regarding physiological serum and milk as the storage medium varies from 100% for milk in the United Arab Emirates [21], to 74.7% among Italian dentists [24], 15.8% correct answers for dentists in China [27], and 11.2% in Germany [38].…”

Adverse Events Related to Direct-To-Consumer Sequential Aligners—A Study of the MAUDE Database

“…Similarly, there is evidence that physicians' assistants have limited knowledge of oral health and that hands-on training can improve knowledge [2]. A study on emergency room doctors, where 1.5 million dental-related visits occur across the United States (US) each year, showed that 60% reported "no or insufficient" knowledge of managing oral health emergencies [3]. Suffice it to say that oral health knowledge is extremely limited outside of the dental profession.…”