Libyan general dentists’ knowledge of dental trauma management

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the level of Libyan general dental practitioners’ knowledge about the current guidelines of dental trauma management. In addition, association between knowledge of recommended treatment modalities and demographic data of participants was evaluated. Materials and Methods: A two-part questionnaire containing questions on demographic data and 12 multiple choice questions on dental trauma management was distributed among a total of 233 dentists in Benghazi and Tripoli. The survey data were analyzed using the Pearson Chi-square test at P < 0.05 level of confi dence. In addition, mean knowledge scores were calculated, and one-way ANOVA was used to determine the association between knowledge scores and demographic data of participants. Results: Questionnaires were returned by 157 dentists. However, this study only reports on the 144 general dental practitioners who comprised (91.7%) of participants. Dentists who had previous experience in dental trauma had signifi cantly higher mean knowledge scores (P = 0.000).in contrast, there was a poor correlation between mean knowledge scores and dentists’ gender, years since graduation or postgraduate dental trauma courses. Conclusion: There is a need to improve the knowledge base of general dental practitioners in the current guidelines for the emergency management of traumatic dental injuries.