Teachers' Attitude Toward Situations of Dental Trauma in a Capital in Southeast Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction: Teachers play a crucial role in first aid for dental trauma (DT), as children spend a large part of their time in schools. In these environments, accidents are frequent. Immediate and correct intervention is essential for prognosis.

Aim: To assess the attitudes of teachers in the municipal school system in the municipality of Vitória-ES towards different DT scenarios and to associate them with socioeconomic, demographic, and functional variables.

Material and methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, and probabilistic study was carried out. Data was collected using self-administered and validated questionnaires, covering sociodemographic and functional information and teachers' knowledge of DT. To this end, teachers' attitudes were classified as correct or incorrect and assessed considering three different DT scenarios: 1-crown fracture; 2-lateral luxation; 3-tooth avulsion. Descriptive analyses, frequency tables, and statistical analyses using the chi-square test (p < 0.05) were carried out. A total of 292 teachers from 37 schools took part in the study.

Results: Among the participants, 137 (46.9%) teachers had already witnessed cases of DT, 94 (68.6%) of which had occurred in the school environment. In addition, 274 (93.8%) of the teachers had never received formal guidance. In scenario 3 (tooth avulsion), only 18.3% of teachers answered correctly. Teachers who had received training in dental trauma had (33.3%) correct answers and (66.7%) incorrect answers. Teachers who had not received training got (13.1%) correct, while (86.9%) got it wrong. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.03). Similarly, teachers who had experienced dental trauma showed a potentially significant association (p = 0.05) with correct attitudes.

Conclusion: There was a high frequency of inappropriate behavior in the event of tooth avulsion, highlighting the need for first aid training. This reinforces the need for educational interventions in the school environment, aimed at providing adequate training in the correct handling of dental emergencies.