Appraisal of Awareness and Attitude of School Teachers towards Emergency Management of Dental Trauma and Tooth Avulsion Replantation

BACKGROUND Health education is an essential aspect for prevention of oral health problems in school children. Dental trauma can result in damaging the tooth, periodontal ligaments, and sometimes even alveolar bone and gingiva. These traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth in young children are tragic but are an ignored problem. They can result in aesthetic and functional problem with possible impact on child's quality of life as anterior teeth are essential for phonetics, mastication, integrity of supporting tissue and also mental and psychological wellbeing of children. This dental emergency can be best handled by the school teachers and the staff members when it happens in a school. So, the study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of the school teachers regarding the emergency management of dental trauma and sensitize them on the subject. METHODS This is a pre- and post-test study performed using self - designed questionnaire provided to the school- teachers of Wardha district. RESULTS Knowledge of 98 % teachers increased after the activity whereas knowledge of 2 % of school teachers was the same as earlier. CONCLUSIONS Sensitization of the school teachers improved their awareness and attitude to manage the dental trauma and avulsion injury of teeth in school.