Knowledge of dental trauma among dental students. Lecture intervention protocol and follow-up over four academic courses

Background and Aims: A study was made to evaluate knowledge of dental trauma among first-year dental students at the start of the career; assess the knowledge gained immediately after a lecture intervention; and evaluate persisting knowledge on an annual basis until the fourth year of the career. Material and Methods: The study involved 29 volunteers from the first year of dentistry (School of Dentistry, Madrid Complutense University, Madrid, Spain). All the participants completed a previously validated questionnaire including questions referred to the management of dental trauma at the site of the accident, and other related aspects. This was followed by a brief lecture on the subject, and then the same questionnaire was administered again. Completion of the original questionnaire was subsequently repeated on an annual basis up until the fourth year of the career. Repeated measures analysis was used to assess the evolution of student knowledge. Results: Knowledge of the subject was seen to be lacking at the start of the career, but increased significantly as a result of the lecture intervention (P < .001). Over the subsequent courses, although the notions referred to dental trauma were seen to decrease with respect to the first evaluation, they remained high. All of the participants agreed on the need for informative campaigns referred to dental trauma targeted to students in the first courses of the health sciences. Conclusions: It is necessary to impart knowledge on the prevention and immediate management of dental traumatisms in order to improve their prognosis. This learning is especially relevant to students in the first courses of the health sciences.