Knowledge and attitude of dental trauma among dental students in trace region of Turkiye

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to determine the level of knowledge of Trakya University Faculty of Dentistry 4th and 5th grade students about the diagnosis and clinical management of dental traumatic injuries and to evaluate the effects of factors such as the students’ age, gender, and study period. Methods: Total of 180 participants who were students in Trakya University Faculty of Dentistry were evaluated in 2022. The questionnaire comprised three chapters: the first chapter contained sociodemographic information, the second chapter contained general information such as trauma history, clinical experience, dental trauma education, and self-assessment of dental trauma knowledge, while the third chapter contained questions about the clinical management of dental trauma. Questionnaire reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, which was found to be 0.717. This indicates acceptable internal consistency (0.8>α≥0.7). The survey data underwent analysis using the chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U Test, and multiple regression analysis. Results: A total 180 dentistry students in Trakya University participated in the survey. While 90.6% of the participants stated that they had not experienced any dental injury while continuing their education, 50.6% stated that they witnessed dental injury. 71.1% of the participants reported having a moderate level of knowledge regarding dental injuries. The results about clinical management of dental trauma showed that median level of case knowledge of the participants was 11. Considering that the highest score that can be obtained is 20, the participants are considered to have moderate case knowledge. When case knowledge level differed according to socio-demographic characteristics, it also differed significantly according to gender (z=-3.811; P<0.01). The case knowledge score (n=12) of the female participants is higher than the score of the male participants (n=10). Conclusion: The knowledge of dental students about the management of dental trauma was accepted but moderate.