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Dental trauma management awareness of Singapore pre‐school teachers
Author(s) -
SaeLim Varawan,
Lim Lum Peng
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
dental traumatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1600-9657
pISSN - 1600-4469
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-9657.2001.017002071.x
Subject(s) - dental trauma , medicine , dental education , quarter (canadian coin) , dentistry , continuing education , family medicine , medical education , archaeology , history
– The purpose of this study was to assess the awareness of pre‐school teachers concerning the management of traumatized teeth. A questionnaire survey of teachers’ backgrounds, attitudes/practices and knowledge was distributed to all teachers who attended a dental education program organized by the Singapore Dental Health Foundation. Of a total of 291 teachers surveyed, 29% had received tertiary education, while the rest (71%) had received secondary education. The mean teaching experience was 6.8±6.9 years. About a quarter had previous experience in handling dental trauma. Sixty‐three percent admitted having no knowledge of dental trauma; 79% were unsatisfied with their level of knowledge in this area; 95% were keen to have further education in dental trauma; 65% thought dental trauma emergency should be dealt with as soon as possible. Concerning knowledge, during‐office hour emergency services were more familiar (84%) than after‐office hour emergency services (15%), as was the concept of management of avulsed teeth (71%) compared to that of fractured teeth (51%). Knowledge about optimal storage media for avulsed permanent teeth was especially poor – being as low as 15%. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, it was found that teaching experience significantly influenced the respondents’ self‐assessed knowledge and their level of satisfaction with their knowledge ( P= 0.012). Teachers with more teaching experience had better knowledge about the replantation of permanent teeth ( P= 0.003). It is recommended that public education targeted at teachers should be carried out to increase dental trauma management awareness.