Assessment of knowledge about dental trauma in licentiate students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22491/1983-7550-53-1-O3Keywords:
Dental trauma, Health education, Oral health, Preventive dentistry, TeachersAbstract
Dental trauma consists of injuries to the soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity, occurring suddenly and frequently in children and adolescents, especially in the school environment. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of licentiate students in teacher education programs at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, main campus, regarding the management of dental trauma before and after an instructional lecture and the provision of educational materials. To support this training, a leaflet and a booklet were developed. Questionnaires were applied to 164 students at two times: T1 (before the lecture and distribution of the educational materials) and T2 (after the intervention). At baseline, 95.8% of participants reported not knowing how to act in the event of dental trauma, and 97% stated that they had never received any first aid training related to dental emergencies, although 30.9% had witnessed dental trauma in schoolchildren. After the intervention (T2), most participants acknowledged the relevance of the topic (97.56%) and reported feeling prepared to act in such situations (82.93%). Licentiate students have insufficient knowledge regarding the management of dental trauma. The educational intervention effectively increased awareness of the importance of the topic and confidence to act, reinforcing the need for the systematic inclusion of this content in the curricula of future teachers.
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