Global status of knowledge of parents for emergency management of traumatic dental injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

RESEARCH PROTOCOL: The protocol was developed as per the recommendations of the Cochrane-handbook and PRISMA and was registered in PROSPERO. LITERATURE SEARCH: Search was performed by using MeSH-Terms and keywords in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Sciences, Lilacs, and Cochrane databases and gray literature sources 15th July 2022. There were no limits regarding the year of publication and language. Hand-searching of included articles was also performed. Titles and abstracts and later full texts were screened as per strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Self-designed pilot-tested form was used. QUALITY APPRAISAL: Risk of bias was analyzed through Joanna-Brigg’s-Institute’s-critical appraisal checklist. The evidence analysis was done by using the GRADE approach. DATA ANALYSIS: Qualitative synthesis was performed for describing the study characteristics, details of sampling, and results of various questionnaires. It was discussed by the expert group and presented using KAP heat map. Meta-analysis was done by using Random Effects Model. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION: The risk of bias was found to be low in seven and moderate in one study. It was observed that >50% of parents knew about the urgency to seek professional advice after TDI. Only <50% of parents were confident of their ability to identify the injured tooth, clean the soiled avulsed tooth, and perform the replantation. Appropriate responses regarding immediate action after tooth avulsion were given by 54.5% (95% CI: 50.2–58.8, p = 0.042) of parents. The knowledge of the parents regarding the emergency management of TDI was found to be inadequate. The majority of them were interested in obtaining information about dental trauma first aid.