Assesment of knowledge and awareness levels of physiciansin the emergency departments in turkey about dental avulsion

Aim: Dental avulsion is a trauma type requiring an immediate treatment and most of the patients apply to the emergency departments for it. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and awareness levels of physicians in the emergency departments in Turkey in terms of dental avulsion. Material and Method: An online survey about dental avulsion was applied to 545 voluntary physicians working in the emergency departments (32.8% female, 67.2% male, mean age 33.12±6.7) from seven geographical regions of Turkey. The ethical approval was received. Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: 61.3% of the physicians who took the survey have not received any training on dental traumas. 58.7% of the physicians has stated that they will replant the avulsed permanent tooth and 28.3% preferred "immediate" replantation. The most preferred storage medium was normal saline with the ratio of 72.3% whereas the percentage of physicians who know that the ideal storage medium is milk was found to be 28%. There was a statistical difference between the trained physicians and non-trained physicians in terms of knowledge levels (p<0.01) regarding dental traumas. Moreover, emergency specialists had higher rate in terms of correct answers compared to the practitioners (p<0.01). Regions and the duration of the assignment of physicians in emergency departments have not caused any statistical difference in terms of correct answers (p>0.05). Conclusion: Knowledge level of physicians working in the emergency departments was found insufficient and training level of physicians needed to be improved by extensive training programs. Key Words: Emergency department, emergency physicians, dental avulsion, knowledge level.