Knowledge of Turkish general dentists about traumatic dental injuries

Abstract

Aim The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of Turkish dentists on different scenarios in dental traumatology. Materials and methods A two-part online questionnaire was used to collect data. The first part included questions about practitioners' demographics, their meeting frequency for trauma cases, their self-evaluated knowledge, educational information about dentistry. The second part included multiple-choice for 10 clinical scenarios about a variety of dental trauma cases and their complications. Results A total of 472 questionnaires returned. 55.5% of participants were general dentists. Overall, 7.8% reported extensive and comprehensive knowledge about dental trauma, 55.3% considered their dental traumatology knowledge to be sufficient, but incomplete, and 36.9% self-evaluated their knowledge as insufficient. 40.9% of participants refer their patients for diagnosis and treatment mostly to endodontists, pediatric dentists, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons. In questionnaire 2, overall the correct answer average was 5.79 based on 10 clinical scenarios. The average of correct answer in 1–5 years experience group was significantly higher than the groups having experience over 10 years. Conclusion Turkish general dentists demonstrated insufficient knowledge regarding the management of traumatized teeth. Informing the students during their undergraduate education and encouraging the clinicians to follow the updates in trauma guidelines may be beneficial for a higher success in trauma cases.