Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior toward Dental Trauma among Parents of Primary Schoolchildren Visiting College of Dentistry, Jizan.

AIM

Traumatic dental injuries occur frequently in children and adolescents. Even though dentists' management of trauma has been given importance, parents rarely know how to intervene in cases of dental trauma. This study was done to investigate the level of knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding dental trauma among parents of children attending primary schools.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was carried out using a semistructured Arabic questionnaire with closed answers, distributed to 285 parents of primary schoolchildren who visited the dental clinics, College of Dentistry, Jizan.

RESULTS

Out of 285 questionnaires, 250 parents completely filled out the proforma. Most of the parents were unemployed females. Only 74.07% of the 21.6% of participants who had experienced trauma in their children reported the incident. Most of them had suffered trauma at home and the least in school. Most of them believed dental trauma was simply dental caries and were unaware of what to do in case of dental trauma. The majority said they would visit a dentist within a day in the event of trauma. In case of trauma, around 10.8% wanted to store the tooth in milk, while 80.4% wanted to wash it in an antiseptic solution. Most of the parents were concerned if the tooth was a permanent tooth and less concerned if it was a primary tooth.

CONCLUSION

From the results of our study, most of the parents had no experience with dental trauma in their children, and most did not know what to do in case of traumatic dental injury (TDI); they would intervene within 1 day. Nevertheless, they lacked the knowledge necessary to provide the affected child with the most appropriate support possible. Motivating parents to embrace a preventative stance against oral trauma might result in positive changes that would boost the long-term health advantages for both the parents and their children.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

Maganur PC, Ahamed FEA, Alhulaili DH, Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior toward Dental Trauma among Parents of Primary Schoolchildren Visiting College of Dentistry, Jizan. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024;17(9):1030-1034.