Isfahan General Dentists’ Knowledge and attitude about the Management of Dental Trauma

 Trauma to the teeth is a prevalent problem in children that can lead to depression, psychosomatic issues, social problem, dysphasia and esthetic cancerns for them. Dentists play a crucial role in reducing the side effects of dental trauma so that their knowledge about the causes, prevention and treatment of such truma is of paramount important. Consequently, this study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of general dentists’ in Isfahan regarding the management of dental trauma.

 The present study was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study that used a questionnaire consisting of demographic information and general dentists' knowledge about the management and treatment of dental trauma (22 questions) and their attitudes towards the subject (11 questions). The questionnaire was completed by 125 general dentists in Isfahan city who were randomly selected in 2019. The data were analyzed using statistical tests including t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and Spearman's correlation coefficient (p value < 0.05).

 The mean score of general dentists’ knowledge was 13.65 ± 2.71 and the mean score of attitude was 39.01 ± 5.98. Women had higher knowledge about dental trauma than men (P value = 0.002). There was also a negative correlation between age (p value = 0.001) and job experience (p value = 0.026) regarding dental trauma knowledge.

 General dentists’ knowledge, who worked in Isfahan, regarding the treatments of TDI in 2019 was at a moderate level. It is suggested that with holding dental trauma retraining courses about how to manage and urgent treat this traumas, thus being more hopeful to rescue these teeth by increasing the awareness of dentists.