Knowledge of Iranian Parents of Elementary School Children about Traumatic Dental Injuries and its Management

STATEMENT OF THE PROBELM: Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) are frequent events during childhood, and emergency management of these injuries has positive outcomes. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of parents of school-aged children about dental trauma and to identify the effect of demographic variables such as age, gender, and education on their responses. MATERIALS AND METHOD: 300 parents of elementary school children were selected through cluster sampling from July 2012 to January 2013 in Yazd, Iran. A questionnaire was designed to collect the data on parents’ knowledge about emergency management of dental trauma, and their demographic characteristics and previous experiences. Statistical analysis of data was performed by SPSS software version 11 using T-test and ANOVA. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: 296 out of 300 participants returned their questionnaires (mean age 33.8± QUOTE ± 5). The parents’ knowledge about TDI managements was inadequate (average score = 7.03). According to T-test and ANOVA statistical tests, there was no significant relationship between knowledge and age (p= 0.155), gender of parents (p= 0.113), gender of children (p= 0.776), occupation (p= 0.112), and the information source (p= 0.160). The relationship between parents’ knowledge and parental educational level was statistically significant (p= 0.010), and least significant difference (LSD) test showed that knowledge score of parents with Bachelor’s degree or higher educational levels (7.83±4) was significantly more than other parents who were not educated (6.97±4), or had high school diploma (6.70±4). CONCLUSION: Majority of parents had little knowledge about TDI and emergency management of avulsed permanent teeth in children. Therefore, it seems that educational programs are necessary to improve parents’ knowledge.