Dental trauma management awareness of Singapore pre-school teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the awareness of pre-school teachers concerning the management of traumatized teeth. A questionnaire survey of teachers' backgrounds, attitudes/ practices and knowledge was distributed to all teachers who attended a dental education program organized by the Singapore Dental Health Foundation. Of a total of 291 teachers surveyed, 29% had received tertiary education, while the rest (71%) had received secondary education. The mean teaching experience was 6.8±6.9 years. About a quarter had previous experience in handling dental trauma. Sixty-three percent admitted having no knowledge of dental trauma; 79% were unsatisfied with their level of knowledge in this area; 95% were keen to have further education in dental trauma; 65% thought dental trauma emergency should be dealt with as soon as possible. Concerning knowledge, during-office hour emergency services were more familiar (84%) than after-office hour emergency services (15%), as was the concept of management of avulsed teeth (71%) compared to that of fractured teeth (51%). Knowledge about optimal storage media for avulsed permanent teeth was especially poor - being as low as 15%. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, it was found that teaching experience significantly influenced the respondents' self-assessed knowledge and their level of satisfaction with their knowledge (P=0.012). Teachers with more teaching experience had better knowledge about the replantation of permanent teeth (P=0.003). It is recommended that public education targeted at teachers should be carried out to increase dental trauma management awareness. © Munksgaard, 2001.