Efficacy of a comprehensive dental education program regarding management of avulsed permanent teeth as a valid indicator of increased success rate of treatment of avulsion in a North Indian population

AIMS: To assess whether educating the parents, teachers, and intermediate school children of Amritsar city about the emergency management of tooth avulsion was an effective method of increasing success rate of treatment of avulsion. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires were prepared for 200 parents, teachers, and for intermediate school children to assess baseline knowledge. Sociodemographic distribution of the targeted group was carried out applying Kuppuswamy scale. Two months later, flip cards and posters were distributed to the selected sample followed by a reinforcement session conducted after 1 month in the form of slide presentations on dental trauma. After 3 months, reassessment performance was distributed to the same participants for reassessing any change in baseline knowledge. Further analysis of knowledge, attitude, and practices were carried out after 6 months. The scores based on Likert scale ranging 0-3 were obtained and put to statistical analysis to analyze efficacy of this program 12 months from baseline data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Wilcoxon signed ranked test was applied to nonparametric data to study the knowledge before and after education was carried out. There was a significant change in the knowledge level of children, teachers, and parents after the campaign and teachers showed more positive change in the practice of emergency management of tooth avulsion, endorsing the fact that comprehensive dental education programs targeting school teachers and children can change the perspective of individuals toward treatment needs for dental trauma involving avulsion.