Knowledge assessment on dental avulsion of private and public school teachers of Curitiba

Dental trauma is one of the most important oral health problems during childhood. It occurs frequently in the school environment and it is extremely important that the professors have knowledge on the subject because the management taken after the accident, directly influences on the prognosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge level about dental avulsion of teachers who work in the private and public elementary schools in the city of Curitiba (PR, Brazil). Material and methods: A questionnaire adapted from Mori et al. (2007) was applied, consisting of three parts, Part I: general demographic data; Part II: basic questions about the importance of emergency management, experience in dental avulsion and the management to be taken in an event of dental avulsion; Part III: Questions about dental avulsion. The chi-square test was used to identify differences in responses for different variables, with significance level of 5%. Results: A total of 98 teachers answered the questionnaire (54 private and 44 municipal schools). Most were women (66% in private and 95.5% in municipal schools), with professional experience between 6-10 years and a postgraduate degree (81.1% of teachers in private schools and 79.9% of teachers in municipal schools). The statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the groups in age and about the emergency procedure for dental avulsion. Conclusion: It can be concluded that knowledge by the elementary schoolteachers in cases of dental avulsion is inadequate.