RT - Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry ID - 10.22514/jocpd.2024.034 T1 - Awareness about emergency management of avulsed tooth among intern dentists—a cross-sectional observational study A1 - Rizwan Qureshi A1 - Azhar Iqbal A1 - Sunitha Siddanna A1 - Ujala Siddeeq A1 - Farah Mushtaq A1 - Bilal Arjumand A1 - Osama Khattak A1 - Saqib Sarfarz A1 - Naif Abdulrahman Naif Aljunaydi A1 - Abdulrahman Muharrab Mohammed Alkhaldi A1 - Mosa Altassan A1 - Esraa Ahmed Attar A1 - Rakhi Issrani A1 - Namdeo Prabhu K1 - Dental trauma; Emergencies; Tooth avulsion; Tooth injuries YR - 2024 SP - 64 AB -

Tooth avulsion is a frequently encountered dental emergency. Children are commonly reported group due to frequent sports activities, trauma, accidents and falls. Prompt emergency management is vital for long term success and to avoid morbidity. The study was aimed to assess the understanding of intern dentists about the emergency handling of avulsed teeth cases as mostly they are first responders among health care personnel. In this study a fourteen-item questionnaire with predefined responses was shared as online Google survey form with intern dentists of 5 different dental teaching hospitals of Islamabad, Pakistan. The duration of the study was 6 months (01 March 2022 to 31 August 2022). The questions were intended to collect personal information and to check level of knowledge and awareness about the management of avulsed tooth among the dental interns. The data was analyzed by statistical methods and is presented through tables and descriptive methods. In total, 152 participants completed the shared questionnaire. The vast majority (71%) of them were aware of the initial management of avulsed teeth, 49% were aware of the ideal transport medium for an avulsed tooth, (43%) were aware of the critical time for successful replantation, while (62%) had knowledge of the multiple factors responsible for the outcome of the tooth replantation. For majority of the statements, female participants had better knowledge as compared to their male counterparts. Statistically significant difference was noted for the statement “If you found the knocked-out tooth and it is dirty what will be your initial approach?” with female participants having better knowledge as compared to the male (p value = 0.005). Based on our study results, generally dental interns are well-informed but still lack expected level of awareness regarding the proper management protocol for avulsed tooth. Hence, improvement is needed regarding the effective handling of avulsed teeth cases.