Attitude and Practices of Paediatric Dentists towards Parental Guidance on Dental Trauma. A cross-sectional survey

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ABSTRACT

Aim

There is a lack of sufficient information about the protocols followed by paediatric dentists in informing parents about traumatic dental injuries as a part of anticipatory guidance. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess paediatric dentists’ attitudes and practices about parental guidance regarding these injuries.

Material and methods

This was a cross-sectional survey conducted using a validated questionnaire emailed through Google form to approximately 2500 paediatric dentists in various world regions. The sampling method used was a list-based sampling frame followed by simple random sampling. Participants were recruited through national member societies of the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry, personal contacts and social media groups. Only paediatric dentists with at least three years of experience after their post-graduation were only included in the study. Their attitudes and practices towards parental education on dental trauma during the child’s first and recalled dental visits were assessed as per their age, gender, country of post-graduation qualification and years of experience in the profession. Chi-Square test was used to evaluate the association between the paediatric dentist response and the continent of practice. Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to assess the level of significance within each variable in relation to the continent of practice. A 95% confidence interval with a significance level of α = 0.05 was used.

Results

This study comprised of 447 responses from paediatric dentists from all over the world. More than half of the respondents practiced in Asian countries (52%). Information given to parents during the child’s first dental appointment, the most effective way to educate parents, and parental guidance showed significant association with country of practice (p<0.001). A small proportion of the participants (26.17%) provided this information only on parental request. Only 33.05% of paediatric dentists routinely provided information to parents on the prevention and emergency management of dental trauma, and 57.02% gave parents first aid information on oro-facial and dental trauma. The majority of respondents (78.23%) gave specific information to parents on dental trauma of primary teeth than avulsed permanent teeth (64.73%). Emergency care for soft-tissue injuries was imparted by a lesser proportion of paediatric dentists (41.87%), while a few (1.37%) did not give any such information.

Conclusion

The overall attitude and practice of paediatric dentists toward parental education on traumatic dental injuries were not satisfactory. Many paediatric dentists do not impart education on emergency care and dental trauma prevention in primary teeth. Parents should be informed about oral hygiene instructions and prevention-oriented interventions during the first visit and about managing traumatic dental injuries.

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