Knowledge of Dental Trauma of Parents/Caregivers of Children Treated at UNIMONTES Pediatric Clinic

Objective: To verify whether the parents/caregivers of children with and without dental trauma history treated at the UNIMONTES Pediatric Clinic had knowledge of dentoalveolar traumas and access to information pertinent to the emergency procedures care involving these types of lesions. Method: Seventy-three parents/caregivers took part in the study. Data collection was performed by using a questionnaire arguing on the children's history of trauma, and also the knowledge and attitudes of the parents/caregivers about the emergency procedures involving dental trauma. Data were analyzed using the chi-square and MannWhitney tests, with a 95% confidence level. Results: According to the parents/caregivers, 25.0% of the children had history of trauma and 83.3% of these cases were due to falls and 72.2% occurred at home. The primary anterior teeth were the most affected (94.4%), enamel fracture was the most prevalent type of fracture (38.9%), followed by tooth darkening (33.3%). Regardless of the children having or not history of dental trauma, the parents/caregivers had little or no adequate knowledge on how to act in situations involving dental fracture (8.3%) and dental avulsion (0.0%). There was no significant association between the parents/caregivers' knowledge and their attitude when dealing with dental fracture and avulsion, when the parents/caretakers' socioeconomic level and instruction was considered (p>0.05). Most participants affirmed that they had not been instructed on how to behave in case of the dental trauma (83.3%) and would like to have more information on this subject (91.7%). Conclusion: Parents/caregivers did not have information and knowledge of emergency care on dental trauma cases, regardless whether their children had history of dental trauma or not.