Dental practitioners' knowledge and implementation of the 2007 International Association of Dental Traumatology guidelines for management of dental trauma.

AIM

To evaluate the knowledge, adoption, and diffusion rate of the 2007 International Association of Dental Traumatology guidelines among practicing military dental professionals, 1 year after publication.

METHODS

Fifty-four military dental professionals in the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces participated in the study and completed a questionnaire, consisting of demographic questions, and multiple choice questions that presented critical points that a military dentist should know when treating a tooth injury.

RESULTS

Seven dentists (13%) graduated in the summer of 2007 after publication of the current guidelines. Military instructions (37%) and the official guidelines published in Dental Traumatology (25.9%) were the most common sources of updating the current guidelines. Twenty-six percentage of the participants were not updated with the new guidelines at all. Based on the current guidelines, the overall correct answer response rate for the 10 questions was 71.7%. Tetracycline, as an antimicrobial agent of choice in avulsion, yielded the lowest percentage of correct answers (20.4%), with duration of splinting after root fracture, the next most incorrectly answered question (50.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

High level of knowledge regarding the 2007 guidelines was found among Israeli military dentists, 1 year after publication. However, knowledge regarding several issues (e.g., medication, splinting) should be reinforced.