Knowledge about the emergency management of avulsed permanent incisor among primary school teachers in Shinan District of Qingdao

Abstract

Objective To assess the knowledge and attitude of primary school teachers on the emergency management of avulsed permanent incisors. Methods From march to April, 2019, a total of 597 teachers from 12 primary schools in Shinan District of Qingdao were selected by stratified sampling based on the first oral epidemiological survey in Qingdao. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 software package by chi-square test. Results A total of 540 teachers answered the questionnaires. Most of the teachers were female (85.9%) . Only (15.2%) had received first aid training which included emergency management of dental trauma. 89.6% of the teachers had never witnessed an avulsed tooth; Immediate replantation of the avulsed tooth was suggested by 15.2% of the respondents; The percentage of the choice of correct medium for avulsed tooth, 58.7% of the teachers chose Physiological saline, 8.3% chose milk, and 6.3% retained in the child′s mouth. 56.5% teachers thought that they should see the doctor immediately. The overall knowledge of the school teachers was poor (86.9%) . There was a statistically significant difference in the questionnaire scores between teachers of different teaching ages (χ2 = 9.445, P = 0.002) , and between those teachers who had received education on tooth trauma (χ2 = 13.148, P<0.001) . Conclusions The school teachers had insufficient knowledge about the emergency management of avulsed permanent teeth. School oral health campaigns with regards to emergency management of avulsed teeth will help improve teachers′ knowledge and their behaviors. Key words: Tooth avulsed; Dental traumatology; Sampling studies; School teachers