Assessment of knowledge and attitudes of school teachers regarding emergency management of an avulsed permanent tooth

Background: Avulsion is defined as complete displacement of a tooth from its socket after trauma. The most accepted treatment for an avulsed permanent tooth is immediate replantation. Children spend a considerable amount of waking hours in school where teachers are the primary caregivers. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of school teachers regarding the emergency management of an avulsed tooth in the district of Patiala, Punjab. Materials and Methods: A two-stage sampling process was used which involved the sampling of schools within the educational district followed by sampling of teachers in the selected schools. A self-structured pretested questionnaire was personally administered to 500 school teachers of district Patiala. Statistical analysis was done using frequency and percentages and descriptive statistics like Student's t -test. Results : Almost half of respondents were aware of mouth guards. 82.8% felt that treatment should be carried out immediately after injury. Approximately, one-fourth of respondents (25.6%) believed that knocked out tooth cannot be saved so no attempt should be made at cleaning it. There was a statistically significant association of knowledge regarding replantation of tooth with education level and training in first aid. Conclusion: The present study revealed that overall knowledge regarding the emergency management of avulsed tooth was low in teachers. There is a need of first aid training to all the teachers along with emergency management of dental trauma.