A Survey on Hong Kong Secondary School Students' Knowledge of Emergency Management of Dental Trauma

OBJECTIVES To investigate Hong Kong secondary school students' knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma. METHOD A questionnaire survey on randomly selected secondary school students using cluster sampling. RESULTS Only 36.6% (209/571) of the respondents were able to correctly identify the appropriate place for treatment of dental injury. 55.2% of the respondents knew the suitable time for treatment. Only 24.7% of the respondents possessed the knowledge of how to correctly manage fractured teeth. Only 23.6% of them knew how to manage displaced teeth. 62.5% of them correctly answered that knocked-out deciduous teeth should not be replanted to the original position, but few of them (23.6%) knew that permanent teeth should be replanted. Moreover, 37.1% of the respondents correctly identified at least one of the appropriate media for storing a knocked-out tooth. First-aid training and acquisition of dental injury information from other sources were significant factors that positive responses from these questions would lead to higher scores. CONCLUSION Hong Kong secondary school students' knowledge of emergency management of dental trauma is considered insufficient. An educational campaign in secondary schools dedicated to students is recommended. Prior first-aid training and acquisition of dental injury information from other sources positively relate to the level of knowledge. Dental trauma emergency management is recommended to be added to first-aid publications and be taught to students and health professionals. TRIAL REGISTRATION Hong Kong Clinical Trial Centre HKCTR-1344.