Knowledge and Attitudes of Elementary Schoolteachers on Dental Trauma and its Management in Yazd, Iran

Abstract

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: School is one of the places with the greatest prevalence of occurrence of traumatic dental injuries. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge levels and attitudes of elementary school teachers towards dental trauma and its management. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, 281 elementary school teachers were selected through cluster sampling to answer the prepared questionnaire. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed in SPSS software by using ANOVA test and t-test. p Value<0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: The total knowledge and attitude were low and normal, respectively. No previous exposure to or close observation of a dental trauma was reported by 61.2 of teachers; while, 12.5 were trained on dental traumas first aid management. There was statistically significant relationship between the teacher's knowledge and previous first aids training. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of schoolteachers on emergency management of dental trauma is poor. Therefore, it seems to be helpful to consider the management of dental injuries especially avulsed teeth as a part of teachers' education.