Educational Impact of Notebook Covers on the Knowledge of Sixth-Grade Primary Pupils About Tooth Avulsion and Replantation: A Randomized Trial

Abstract

Background Tooth avulsion is a common cause of tooth loss. However, there is a significant lack of knowledge about dental trauma and the appropriate emergency procedures to handle these cases. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the educational effect of notebook covers illustrated with figures and informative texts about tooth avulsion and replantation in sixth-grade primary school pupils. Material and Methods Sixth-grade pupils of two public school participated in this study. An experimental group consisting of 134 pupils received notebook covers illustrated with figures and informative texts about tooth avulsion and replantation, while a control group of 108 pupils received notebooks with neutral covers. An assessment of the educational effects on pupils was performed after 9 months, with a standardized questionnaire normally used to evaluate dental trauma. Statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS 21.0 (α = .05) for group description and comparison using chi-square and Student t tests. Results Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in correct meaning of dental trauma (38% vs. 58.2%); procedures to follow in the case of dental avulsion (2.8% vs. 70.9%); storing the avulsed tooth in milk (18.5% vs. 76.9%); general knowledge about dental anatomy (61.1% vs. 95.5%); and the ideal time for the tooth to remain outside the mouth prior to replantation (20.4% vs. 59.7%). Conclusion The use of notebook covers illustrated with figures and informative texts about dental trauma led to a significant increase in the knowledge of schoolchildren about tooth avulsion, first aid, and replantation.

How to Educate the Public about Dental Trauma—A Scoping Review

“…Another limitation of the present scoping review is the inclusion of papers written in English only, however, it is a common practice in this type of review. There are also new papers published after the literature search had been done [ 60 , 61 ], which is why they were not included in the analysis.…”

School-Based Interventions on Dental Trauma: A Scoping Review of Empirical Evidence

“…Although Sedlaceck et al did not assess baseline knowledge, they found that many participants (40.5%) had experienced some forms of DT, and the majority (62.8%) understood TA [25].…”

“…For the majority of the reviewed publications, the intervention produced desired outcomes in the study population as the knowledge level significantly improved from pre-intervention to post-intervention [11,20,23,24,26,29,30,32,34,35]. This was evident in most knowledge topics measured: understanding of TA, extra-alveolar time [24,25,32], permanent and primary TA, [25,32], replantation and cleaning of avulsed teeth, and suitable storage/transportation medium for an avulsed tooth [13,21,[23][24][25][26]31,32,35].…”

“…Knowledge of avulsed tooth management [31], handling [23,24], first-aid care [13,20,21,25], actions to take in case of TA [25,31], reattachment of a broken tooth part, and the importance of avulsed tooth replantation [11] also improved. Similarly, the knowledge that anyone can replant an avulsed tooth changed positively [25].…”

“…In another study, the diverse intervention strategies introduced failed to produce significant improvement in the knowledge [24]. Where knowledge improved significantly [11,25,27,28,30], and on topics for which knowledge change was insignificant [24], some differences were conspicuous among the assessed groups. Most interventions improved knowledge better among the experimental group(s) than the control group [11,25,[27][28][29]32] and in some experimental groups than others [27,28,30,35].…”