Knowledge and experience of primary school teachers towards tooth avulsion and its emergency management

Abstract

Background: Injury to both the primary and permanent dentitions is one of the most common dental problems seen in children.

Objective: The study is to assess the knowledge and attitudes regarding emergency management of traumatic tooth avulsion among primary school teachers in Benin City.

Methods: The study was a cross sectional survey conducted among primary school teachers in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. It was performed by means of a selfadministered questionnaire on a sample of 200 primary school teachers

Results: A total of 200 questionnaires were administered to teachers in 16 schools comprising 2 private and 14 public schools. 184 questionnaires were correctly filled and returned. Most of the respondents were female with a male female ratio of 1:10.5 with the age of majority in the 4th to 6th decade of life. The years of teaching experience of the respondents ranged from 1 to 35 years with a mean of 16.0± 11.0 years. Fifty nine (32.2%) of the respondents had come across an accident where a tooth was “knocked out” in school. About half (49.7%) of all the respondents claimed they would refer a child with an avulsed tooth immediately to the dentist and 62.8% thought that a dentist's intervention was required immediately. Fifty six (30.6%) of the respondents claimed that an avulsed tooth should be transported by placing it in cotton wool while 25.7% didn't know how to transport an avulsed tooth. Thirty-nine (21.3%) of the respondents had received information regarding first aid treatment of an avulsed tooth. A majority (97.3%) believed it was important to have an educational program on first aid management of dental trauma with 97.8% willing to attend such programmes.

Conclusion: Knowledge of primary school teachers regarding management of traumatic tooth avulsion was unsatisfactory. It should be improved by continuous dental educational seminars in schools

Keyword: Tooth avulsion, emergency management primary school teachers, knowledge, experience