Assessing the Effectiveness of A School Based Oral Health Promotion Amongst School Teachers with Regard to Management of Tooth Avulsion

BACKGROUND: School teachers play a crucial role in managing traumatic dental injuries because they are in close proximity to children and are frequently called upon to assist any traumatic incidents. Previous studies reveal that school personnel have little knowledge about emergency management of dental injuries. This raises concerns as the loss of a permanent tooth has detrimental effect on growing children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge of 200 school teachers (100 urban and 100 rural), using a questionnaire comprising of 11 questions related to the management of cases of tooth avulsion before and after an informative lecture on the same. RESULT: Before the dental health education, only 63.5% of school teachers were aware of the possibility of replanting avulsed teeth and 24.5% were aware of the emergency protocol at the time of dental injuries. After the informative lecture 96.5% of the school teachers were aware of the importance of saving avulsed permanent teeth and their emergency management. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to bring up the knowledge level of school teachers with regard to the management of the tooth avulsion and to reinforce the same periodically for the long term tooth avulsion injuries amongst children.