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| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 9
| Issue : 2 | Page : 116-120 |
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Assessment of the knowledge regarding the management of avulsed teeth before and after oral health education in high school children (14–16 years) in Central India
Vandana Kokane1, Noopur Kokane2, Pratik Burad1, Saivi Datar1, Rucha Saoji1, Sakshi Pathak1
1 Department of Conservative Dentistry, VSPM Dental College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
2 Department of Public Health Dentistry, Dr. Rajesh Ramdasji Kambe Dental College and Hospital, Akola, Maharashtra, India
| Date of Submission | 19-Jan-2021 |
| Date of Decision | 09-Jul-2021 |
| Date of Acceptance | 09-Jul-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 30-Nov-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Noopur Kokane
No. 2/1 MIG 20 Ridge Road, Opposite Super Speciality Hospital, Near Tukdoji Square, Nagpur - 440 027, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/dmr.dmr_2_21
Background: Tooth avulsion is one of the common dental problems seen in children. Informing that avulsed tooth can be reimplanted and method to store the tooth, the importance of immediate replantation without time loss, etc., can save many avulsed teeth, preventing psychological trauma and cost of prosthetic rehabilitation. The study aims to assess knowledge and create awareness regarding the management of avulsed teeth among school-going children (14–16 years). Methodology: The study was conducted among 1231 schoolchildren of age group 14–16 years of different urban schools of Nagpur to assess the knowledge regarding the management of avulsed teeth before and after an informative lecture. The mean knowledge score pre- and postpresentation was statistically analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Results: Students lacked knowledge about the management of avulsed teeth. However, their mean knowledge score increased to 3.15 from 1.98 after oral health presentations focusing on the management of avulsed teeth. Conclusion: Knowledge regarding avulsed tooth and its management among schoolchildren is barely adequate and requires the right method of education via seminars and dental health programmers.
Keywords: Adolescent, avulsion, dental trauma, oral health education
How to cite this article:
Kokane V, Kokane N, Burad P, Datar S, Saoji R, Pathak S. Assessment of the knowledge regarding the management of avulsed teeth before and after oral health education in high school children (14–16 years) in Central India. Dent Med Res 2021;9:116-20 |
How to cite this URL:
Kokane V, Kokane N, Burad P, Datar S, Saoji R, Pathak S. Assessment of the knowledge regarding the management of avulsed teeth before and after oral health education in high school children (14–16 years) in Central India. Dent Med Res [serial online] 2021 [cited 2022 Jul 4];9:116-20. Available from: https://www.dmrjournal.org/text.asp?2021/9/2/116/331394 |
| Introduction | |  |
Traumatic dental injuries are widespread in society and negatively impact the quality of life; hence, it is also considered a public health problem.[1] Dental injuries vary from simple concussions to considerable damage to structures surrounding the tooth.[2]
The two most common locations where traumatic dental injuries occur in children are home and school.[3] Sports account for 60% of traumatic dental injuries.[4] Fights and road traffic accidents are other potential reasons.[4] Anterior teeth are mostly affected due to trauma resulting in avulsion.[5] An avulsion is a complete detachment of a tooth from the socket due to trauma. In most cases, where the prognosis is poor, it is because children with avulsed teeth visit the dentist late for treatment due to lack of awareness and knowledge.
There are many studies conducted on teachers and parents to examine their knowledge and awareness about an avulsed tooth. However, a scanty amount of data is available on students themselves. During adolescence, there is a delicate transitional stage of physical and psychological development into new physical and psychological structures. During this period, studentteacher relation is static.[3],[6] Hence, students themselves should be given proper education about tooth avulsion and its management. Dental esthetics have great importance for the adolescent's self-image and self-esteem.[7] Poorly managed dental injuries may result in dysfunctional or even permanent tooth loss, resulting in costly rehabilitation.
The prognosis of such teeth can be improved if students themselves have knowledge about the management of avulsed teeth. Educating the students regarding the steps to be taken after such an injury might help to improve the success rate of immediate replantation, treatment, and prognosis of avulsion. Hence, this study is aimed to assess the knowledge and create awareness among schoolchildren in the emergency management of avulsed teeth.
| Methodology | | |
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 15 schools of Nagpur city in 3 months. Nagpur is divided into five zones; three schools were selected from each zone by convenience sampling method. A prevalidated questionnaire was distributed among 14–16-year-old students to know the baseline knowledge score regarding the management of avulsed tooth. This was followed by a brief PowerPoint presentation explaining dental trauma, avulsion, and its management. A postpresentation questionnaire was then distributed to assess the information gained by them. Pre- and postintervention scores were compared paired t-test. P = 0.005 was kept to be statistically significant. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23.0 was used for statistical analysis.
Ethical clearance
Ethical clearance was obtained from ethical committee of VSPM Dental college hospital and research center.
| Results | | |
The distribution of the subjects according to age, gender, previous dental visits, and previous history of dental trauma are given in [Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4], respectively.
[Table 1] shows the percentage of all answers before and after intervention. Value of one was given to least correct answer and five was given the most correct answer. The lowest score that could be obtained was 10 and highest was 40 for all questions. The knowledge score of pre and post intervention have been depicted in [Figure 5], to compare the difference in knowledge, pre- and post-intervention, paired t-test was applied and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. | Table 1: Comparison of knowledge and attitude before and after dental health education
Click here to view |
The mean knowledge Score was 1.9823 ± 3.22, whereas post-intervention the mean knowledge increased to 3.1520 ± 1.740. The difference was found to be statistically significant with P < 0.001 [Table 2].
| Discussion | | |
Dental injury is one of the common dental problems seen in children. Avulsion has an incidence of 0.5%–3% of all traumatic dental injuries to the permanent dentition.[8] It can result in a functional and esthetic impairment which might lead to great concerns for the parents as well as the child. Informing about the possibility of an avulsed tooth can be reimplanted and method to store the tooth, the importance of immediate replantation without time loss, etc., can save many avulsed teeth, preventing psychological trauma and cost of prosthetic rehabilitation.[9]
In our study, the gender distribution is almost equal with slightly more female side; previous studies have shown that males are more prone to dental traumas.[5] In our study, around 22% of students have previously experienced dental trauma, which is similar to other studies that cite figures at approximately 20% in adolescents.[10]
Many studies all over the world were conducted to evaluate the knowledge of teachers[11] and parents[12] toward dental trauma, and lack of knowledge was found in many studies.[11],[12] However, not many studies are conducted to test the knowledge of students. The study found that students were not well aware of avulsion and its management. 88.1% did not know the meaning of avulsed tooth before the presentation which reduced to 3.3% after the presentation. 88.1% did not know the meaning of avulsed tooth before the presentation which reduced to 3.3% after the presentation.
Surprisingly in a previous study, it was found that many physicians refer avulsion cases to the dentist, as there is a lack the knowledge about emergency management of avulsed tooth physicians and also among medical graduates.[13],[14] A study was conducted in Nagpur among medical practitioners showed the general medical practitioners lack most of the knowledge required for the emergency management of an avulsed teeth.[15] Before the presentation 78.6% preferred visiting the dentist immediately after trauma which increased to 98.9% after the presentation.
The International Association of Dental Traumatology and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend immediate replantation of a tooth to obtain the best prognosis.[16]
It is recommended that if the tooth is dirty, it should be gently rinsed and replanted or returned to its original position in the jaw.[17] Knowledge about both was very little previously but increased to 95.1% and 86.5%, respectively, after the presentation. The avulsed tooth should be held by the crown and the root portion should be avoided;[17] the awareness about this increased to 96.8% from 17.2%.
If it is not possible to replant the tooth on-site, then a patient with the tooth should be brought to the dentist as soon as possible. The tooth should be stored and transported in a medium that is immediately available at the emergency site to avoid dehydration of the root surface. The preferred medium is milk, Hanks balanced salt solution, saliva (after spitting into a glass for instance), or saline are suitable and convenient storage mediums. As water is a poor medium, it is better than leaving the tooth to air-dry.[17] With this information the awareness about these mediums increased among children. before presentation around one-fourth of students preferred water as the medium of storage which decreased to only 3.0%.
The prognosis of the replanted teeth is best when these two conditions are observed. First, the extraoral dry time is <15 min. Second, the tooth is stored in osmolality-balanced media such as Hank's balanced salt solution, saline, and milk.[18] 84.3% of students gained the knowledge that both time and medium are important for the prognosis of an avulsed tooth.
There was an overall increase in awareness about the management of avulsed teeth after the presentation.
| Conclusion | | |
From the above study, it can be concluded that the knowledge regarding tooth avulsion and its management was less in schoolchildren. The postpresentation results show a significant increase in their knowledge and approach toward management and willingness to seek treatment while demolishing some of the myths regarding avulsion. Furthermore, it can be concluded that there is a need for more of such dental educational seminars and programs regarding dental traumatology in schools and among the general population to create awareness to impart knowledge, thereby leading to better treatment, prognosis, and improvement of overall dental health of the population.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4], [Figure 5]
[Table 1], [Table 2]
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