Knowledge of physical education teachers’ toward tooth avulsion in Tehran, Iran

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Teeth are always faced with different traumas and all those traumas, which cause teeth to exit their sockets, are classified as avulsion. Avulsion most commonly occurs in 7-11 year olds. If sports tutors have enough information regarding replantation, they could play a significant role in prognosis of treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess physical education teachers’ level of knowledge regarding avulsion of teeth in Tehran’s Primary Schools, Iran, in 2012. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study which used a questionnaire consisting three parts including 21 questions. The first part was about demographic information; the second part was about traumatic lesion to tooth and the third part was about process of avulsed teeth protection. The questionnaire was completed by a random sample of volunteer sports tutors in Tehran Primary Schools. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software using the chi-square test. RESULTS: About 160 subjects participated, 67.1% of the tutors had mid-level knowledge regarding the second part of the questionnaire, and 64.1% had a low level of knowledge regarding the third part. In relation to the second and third part of the questionnaire, a statistically significant relationship was observed between the age of the tutors and their level of information (P < 0.050). There was also a significant relationship between the level of information about the third section of the survey and the amount of experience the tutors had about avulsion (P < 0.050). CONCLUSION: The results indicate a low level of knowledge in sports tutors in dealing with avulsed teeth and suitable media for transferring the teeth. Suitable educational programs for these tutors could be very useful in enhancing their knowledge and pertaining traumatized teeth. KEYWORDS: Dental Trauma, Knowledge, Physical Education Teachers, Ira