Knowledge and experience regarding emergency management of dental injuries among primary and secondary school teachers’ in Croatia

Svrha: Dentalne traume su jedan od važnih problema oralnoga zdravlja djece i adolescenata. Djecu i adolescente ubrajamo u ugroženu skupinu, koja veliki dio aktivnog dana provodi u školskom okružju. Cilj ove presječne studije bila je procjena znanja i iskustva hrvatskih učitelja i nastavnika o zbrinjavanju traumatskih ozljeda zuba. Materijali i metode: Istraživanje se temeljilo na anketnom online upitniku, kojim se ispitivalo znanje i iskustvo o traumatskim ozljedama zuba među 803 prosvjetna djelatnika osnovnih i srednjih škola (67,4 % osnovna škola i 32,4 % srednja škola). Podaci su obrađeni Student-T testom ili jednosmjernom analizom varijance (ANOVA) s Tukeyevim post-hoc testom. Razina značajnosti postavljena je na P ≤ 0,05. Rezultati: Ukupno srednje znanje učitelja i nastavnika osnovnih i srednjih škola u Republici Hrvatskoj o hitnim postupcima prilikom zbrinjavanja dentalnih trauma bilo je 6,59 ± 2,51 (min 0, max 14). Nema razlike u znanju ispitanika koji educiraju djecu u nižim i višim razredima osnovnih škola te nastavnika u srednjim školama (6,88 ± 2,53 naspram 6,48 ± 2,42 i 6,44 ± 2,58, slijedom; P = 0,140). Očekivano, ispitanici koji su imali osobno iskustvo s traumatskim ozljedama zuba pokazuju bolju razinu znanja (7,19 ± 2,56 naspram 6,39 ± 2,46, P ≤ 0,001). Zaključak: Razina znanja o traumatskim ozljedama zuba i njihovu upravljanju među prosvjetnim djelatnicima osnovnih i srednjih škola je nedovoljna. Budući da je većina ispitanika izjavila da je voljna učiti na ovu temu, preporučuje se pokrenuti edukacijske kampanje.Objectives: Dental trauma is one of the important oral health problems in adolescent and childhood period. Children are high-risk group that spends large part of its active day in school. This cross-sectional study has assessed the level of knowledge and experience of Croatian primary and secondary school teachers concerning the management of dental trauma. Materials and methods: A questioner-based online study has assessed knowledge and experience with dental injuries among 803 primary and secondary school teachers. The data have been evaluated by the Student-T test or one-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s post-hoc. The level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. Results: Total mean value of teachers knowledge regarding emergency management of dental trauma was 6.59 ± 2.51 (min 0, max 14). There is no significant difference in knowledge among teachers from lower primary, upper primary and secondary education (6.88 ± 2.53 vs 6.48 ± 2.42 and 6.44 ± 2.58, respectively; P = 0.140). As expected, teachers who had personal experience with dental trauma had better knowledge (7.19 ± 2.56 vs 6.39 ± 2.46; P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The knowledge on emergency management of dental trauma among primary and secondary school teachers in Croatia is insufficient. Since most of teacher expressed willingness for future education regarding this subject, educational campaigns are recommended