Abstract
Aim: To determine the knowledge and management of dentoalveolar trauma by primary school teachers in rural and urban schools in the city of Paillaco, Chile, in 2014. Methods: An observational study was conducted in 167 teachers in the city of Paillaco. A survey developed from the questionnaires proposed by McIntyre et al. and Yassen et al. was used. The survey, previously approved by 2 experts, was applied in person in the school facilities, after the application of a pilot test. Demographic characteristics of the participants and the frequency of correct responses by geographical location of the educational establishment (rural / urban) were analyzed. For the inferential analysis, the chi-square and t-tests (p <.05) were used. Results: 130 valid questionnaires (41.21 ± 0.95 years, 68.4% women) were obtained. Participating teachers achieved an 83.3% of correct diagnosis of dentoalveolar trauma and a 55.5% of correct answers regarding its management. There were with no statistically significant differences in relation to geographical location. Conclusion: Primary school teachers in the city of Paillaco have a high level of knowledge of dentoalveolar trauma, but not of its management.
Highlights
The traumatic dental injury (TDI) is a lesion that affects the teeth and their supporting structures after a violent impact
Falls are the most common cause in both cases[2]. This type of injury has a high prevalence at national level (30%)[1,3] mainly at school age[2]
Several studies have been conducted to measure the knowledge of TDIs in primary school teachers
Summary
The traumatic dental injury (TDI) is a lesion that affects the teeth and their supporting structures after a violent impact. Falls are the most common cause in both cases[2] This type of injury has a high prevalence at national level (30%)[1,3] mainly at school age[2]. In the district of Paillaco, located in southern Chile, more than a quarter of the population (27%) is of school age[4] This is why teachers play an important role in dealing with these traumas[5,6], as a timely and immediate response improves the prognosis of the injuries[5]. Results show that teachers have little knowledge about the management of this type of injuries[5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. This is worrying considering the emotional, psychological, social and financial impact these injuries have in children, parents and health authorities[11,12,13,14]
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