Dental trauma education intervention as a positive influence among undergraduate students

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of dental trauma educational intervention among undergraduate students of a Federal University in Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students (n = 125) enrolled in the dentistry (n = 70), nursing (n = 33), and speech therapy (n = 22) courses were invited to attend a dental trauma lecture and also to answer a questionnaire about their confidence in managing crown fracture and tooth avulsion, before (T0) and immediately after (T1) the lecture. McNemar's test (P < 0.05) with logistic regression compared the answers between the courses. RESULTS: Female gender (78.4%) aged from 18 to 22 years (73.6%) predominated among all the participants. Dentistry students scored higher correct answers (54.3%) in T0 when compared to nursing (12%) and speech therapy (9%) students, concerning the storage medium for tooth fragment transportation. Likewise, few dentistry students (22.9%) and no nursing and speech therapy students knew about the ideal storage medium for an avulsed tooth when immediate replantation was unviable. After educational intervention, a significant improvement was found between T0 and T1 (P < 0.001) for all courses, mainly regarding tooth avulsion with almost 100% of correct answers. Furthermore, logistic regression demonstrated that dentistry students had three times more knowledge absorption than nursing and speech therapy ones. CONCLUSIONS: The educational intervention demonstrated a significant positive impact regarding the knowledge of dental trauma emergency management among health students. Accordingly, it is essential to spread this information among health professionals to save teeth, especially in cases of avulsion.