Knowledge and Attitude of Parents towards Avulsed Permanent Tooth of their Children and its Emergency Management in Bhopal City.

Abstract

Dental avulsion is a commonly reported traumatic injury causing pain, aesthetic, functional, psychological and mental impairment. Since parents are in the immediate vicinity of children in such situations, their knowledge regarding the same is of great importance. The aim of present study was to assess the level of parental knowledge and their attitude towards dental avulsion and its emergency management. A 10-stemmed questionnaire was prepared for this study which was modified form of questionnaire used by Raphael and Gregory. The questionnaire consisted of two parts and was provided in both English and Hindi languages. Parents had to mark one option provided to them in multiple choice questions, which they found to be right. A written consent according to ethical guidelines was taken by all the participants before filling up the questionnaire. The survey consisted of 550 parents who accompanied their children aged between 6 to 13 years in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Peoples Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Chi- square test was applied to evaluate the associations in this study. Statistically it was observed that 34.5% of male participants exhibited more knowledge regarding the necessity of reimplantation of avulsed tooth in comparison to female participants. Also parents with higher educational background have showed positive response toward knowledge and attitude of emergency treatment of avulsed permanent tooth. About 25.6% of higher secondary level, 20.9% of undergraduate level, 10.9% of elementary school level and 0.4% of illiterate participants responded that reimplantation of avulsed permanent tooth is possible. It was concluded from the study that regardless of the age, education level or other factors, parental knowledge of tooth avulsion management was found to be very low in our society. Parents who participated in this study reported having insufficient knowledge about dental trauma and unskilled to provide emergency care to their child.