Knowledge and Attitudes about Dental Trauma Among the Students of the University of Split

OBJECTIVES: Dental trauma among children is a common problem, and everyone who works with them needs to possess appropriate knowledge and skills to provide proper care at the site of the accident. The aim was to evaluate the knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma among students who should be capable of managing such injuries in their future career. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey regarding dental trauma emergency management was conducted on 679 students from five different studies using a questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by the Student t-test or one - way ANOVAusing the Tukey's post-hoc test and multiple linear regression analysis (p<0.05). RESULTS: The total knowledge score regarding the emergency management of dental trauma among examined student was 4.32±2.25 (max 10). The positive association of the knowledge score was observed with the age of student (β=0.722, p≤0.001). A similar relation was observed depending on whether they received dental injuries training during their academic education (β=2.365, p≤0.001), as well as students’ assessment of the importance of knowledge regarding dental trauma emergency management (β=0.433, p≤0.001). CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the surveyed students have limited knowledge regarding dental injuries and their emergency management procedures. The obtained data emphasized the importance of additional education of all professions that may encounter dental trauma injuries to improve the outcomes of dental trauma treatment.