Assessment of Parental Knowledge and Attitudes in Aydın City Regarding the Dentoalveolar Injuries

Abstract

Aim: Traumatic dentoalveolar injuries occur frequently in children and adolescents, affecting teeth, their supporting structures and adjacent soft tissues and contributing to major psychosocial and economic problems. The aim of this study was to examine parental knowledge and attitudes about traumatic dentoalveolar injuries and emergency treatment in children. Methods: A total of 550 parents of children who attended Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry were asked to fill a questionnaire. 518 questionnaire which were filled completely were included to the study. Results: 23,5% of parents reported that they had been informed before about dentoalveolar injuries. They indicated the information sources as their dentists, family doctor and internet. 81,8% of parents thought that dentoalveolar injuries is an emergency case and only 16,2% of them said that they have enough knowledge to control that emergency case. 7,4% of parents reported that they would reimplant the avulsed tooth in its socket. 41,3% of parents have no idea about cleaning of avulsed permanent teeth before reimplantation. 52% of parents reported that they would refer to an oral and dental health center after a dentoalveolar injury. 40% of parents thought that they should refer to a health care center within first 30 minutes. 43,6% of parents had no information about avulsion treatment and storage medium. Conclusion: This study revealed that the parental knowledge about the emergency treatment and dentoalveolar injuries in children is inadequate and that educational campaigns in schools or hospitals are necessary to improve the knowledge of the society about dentoalveolar injuries.