Abstract
ObjectivesTo investigate Hong Kong secondary school students' knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma.MethodA questionnaire survey on randomly selected secondary school students using cluster sampling.ResultsOnly 36.6% (209/571) of the respondents were able to correctly identify the appropriate place for treatment of dental injury. 55.2% of the respondents knew the suitable time for treatment. Only 24.7% of the respondents possessed the knowledge of how to correctly manage fractured teeth. Only 23.6% of them knew how to manage displaced teeth. 62.5% of them correctly answered that knocked-out deciduous teeth should not be replanted to the original position, but few of them (23.6%) knew that permanent teeth should be replanted. Moreover, 37.1% of the respondents correctly identified at least one of the appropriate media for storing a knocked-out tooth. First-aid training and acquisition of dental injury information from other sources were significant factors that positive responses from these questions would lead to higher scores.ConclusionHong Kong secondary school students' knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma is considered insufficient. An educational campaign in secondary schools dedicated to students is recommended. Prior first-aid training and acquisition of dental injury information from other sources positively relate to the level of knowledge. Dental trauma emergency management is recommended to be added to first-aid publications and be taught to students and health professionals.Trial Registration: Hong Kong Clinical Trial Centre HKCTR-1344
Highlights
The consequences of traumatic dental injuries range from tooth fractures to avulsion of the whole tooth
The summary statistics of the respondents’ background information collected are tabulated in Table 2. 60.1% of the respondents were female and 53.9% of them were within the age range 14 – 16. 43.6% were from Form 1 – 3, 44.7% were from Form 4 – 5 and a small percentage of 11.7% were from F.6 – 7. 8.9% had received firstaid training, and only 3.0% had learnt about management of dental injury in the training program. 23.6% of the respondents considered themselves able to distinguish deciduous from permanent teeth
The results showed that the knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma of secondary school students in Hong Kong was less favourable than we would like it to be (Table 3, 4, 5)
Summary
The consequences of traumatic dental injuries range from tooth fractures to avulsion of the whole tooth. The prognosis of some of the dental injuries, especially avulsion, depends on early management [1]. Fall is the main cause of traumatic dental injuries [4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. If the patient or persons nearby can perform immediate management at the site of injury, the level of harm can be reduced
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
