Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Restorative Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 Department of Orthodontics, Pediatric and Community Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 Department of Conservative and Prosthetic Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
  • 4 Department of Endodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • 5 Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 6 Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 7 Department of Endodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
  • 8 Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Dentistry, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates
  • 9 Hamad Dental Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • 10 National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore (NUCOHS), Singapore City, Singapore
  • 11 Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research (MAHER), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 12 Department of Endodontics, Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 13 Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore City, Singapore
  • 14 UWA Dental School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Dent Traumatol, 2024 Oct;40(5):586-598.
PMID: 38686742 DOI: 10.1111/edt.12961

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIM: The knowledge of dental students about managing traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) may not be uniform, depending on global location and dental education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge of undergraduate and postgraduate students specializing in endodontics and pediatric dentistry at 10 dental schools in 10 countries about the 2020 International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT) guidelines regarding the management of TDIs.

MATERIALS & METHODS: A previously published questionnaire was used in the current survey. It was an online survey with 12 questions regarding the management of TDIs and some additional questions regarding sociodemographic and professional profiles of the participants were added. The survey was distributed to final-year undergraduate students and postgraduate students in pediatric dentistry and endodontics from 10 dental schools. Simple frequency distributions and descriptive statistics were predominantly used to describe the data. Differences in the median percentage scores among the student categories were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner pairwise comparisons.

RESULTS: A total of 347 undergraduates, 126 postgraduates in endodontics, and 72 postgraduates in pediatric dentistry from 10 dental schools participated in this survey. The postgraduates had a significantly higher percentage score for correct responses compared with the undergraduates. No significant difference was observed between the endodontic and pediatric dentistry postgraduates.

CONCLUSION: The knowledge possessed by undergraduate and postgraduate students concerning the IADT-recommended management of TDIs varied across the globe and some aspects were found to be deficient. This study emphasizes the critical importance of reassessing the teaching and learning activities pertaining to the management of TDIs.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.