Effect of a leaflet given to parents on knowledge of tooth avulsion.

AIM Parents can play an important role in improving the prognosis of avulsed permanent teeth if they are properly informed about the necessary dental first-aid steps at the time of an accident. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of Shirazi parents in traumatic a simple leaflet on improving their knowledge about this topic. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and fifty parents of children receiving dental care at the Shiraz Dental School participated in this study. Half of the participants received an informative leaflet with the possibility of asking questions about it to an operator, while the other half did not receive any leaflets and served as a control group. Using a questionnaire and a scoring system, the level of knowledge of parents was measured in the following categories: general knowledge of tooth avulsion, knowledge of replantation and primary/permanent teeth, knowledge of how to clean an avulsed tooth, knowledge of extra- oral time, and knowledge of storage, methods and transporting media. RESULTS The results showed that knowledge level was low among Shirazi parents. Improvements were observed in all the categories of knowledge as a result of reading the leaflet and answering the questions. CONCLUSION A simple leaflet is a suitable tool to impart knowledge to parents and improve awareness about tooth avulsion.