Effectiveness of an Oral Health Educational Program on the Knowledge and Self-reported Practice of Primary School Teachers in Beni-Suef Towards Traumatic Dental Injuries: Before and After Study

Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) are considered a public health concern representing 5% of all injuries. According to the world health organization (WHO) about 16-40% of children across the world are subjected to TDIs with the most susceptible age group between 6-12 years old. Dental trauma may be caused by falls, blows to the face and sports which could be mild as concussion or subluxation, or complicated as avulsion ). The majority of the injuries took place at home followed by school, so teachers are one of the first to be present at the site of action, making their knowledge of emergency management essential to the provision of proper care to an injured child .

For example, in cases of avulsion of permanent tooth the proper management is to find the missing tooth and immediately replant, or transport the tooth in suitable transportation media, then referral to the dentist for treatment and follow up. The prognosis of such case mainly depends on the time between the injury and the replantation and the media of transportation . The unnecessary negative consequences of not providing proper first aid management in such case could lead to more time consuming and costly treatment and in a worst-case scenario permanent loss of one or more tooth . This could cause pain and have significant functional, esthetic, speech, and psychological effects on children thus affecting their quality of life .

A number of studies have evaluated the knowledge level of schoolteachers with respect to dental trauma and its emergency management concluded that teachers lack knowledge towards traumatic dental injuries. They recommended establishing oral health educational programs to raise the teachers' knowledge and improve their attitude towards TDIs . Other educational studies showed remarkable increase knowledge after oral health educational program and that is why educational programs and training are needed to improve proper management of traumatic injuries by schoolteachers and avoid unnecessary negative consequences.