Knowledge and Awareness of Emergency Treatment of Dental Injury among Dental Students - A Survey

Abstract

Introduction: In the field of dentistry, life-threatening emergencies can and do occur. They can happen to someone who is a patient, a doctor, a member of the office staff or a person who is simply assisting a patient. Road traffic Accident (RTA) victims also suffer dental injury, often known as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) trauma.

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and awareness about emergency treatment of dental injuries among dental students.

Materials And Methods: A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 101 dental students through a self administered questionnaire from March - April 2020. The responses were collected, tabulated in excel sheets and analysed using SPSS software. Chi square test was used to analyze the level of knowledge on emergency treatment among dental students with statistical significance of P< 0.05.

Results: This study results that 83.3% of the study population belonging to the age group of 6-13 year old children are often exposed to traumatic injuries. 60.2% agreed that sport related injury would be the only possibility that is responsible for dental trauma.

Conclusion: This study concludes that dental students had average knowledge and awareness on various emergency treatments. Awareness, camps, social media, workshops, seminars should be conducted to create awareness on emergency treatments in the field of dentistry.