Knowledge of dental trauma among mothers in Mangalore.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of Mangalore mothers regarding dental trauma.


METHODS
A questionnaire inquiring about mother's knowledge on dental trauma was distributed to 500 working and non-working mothers via their children attending two primary schools in the Mangalore city.


RESULTS
Around 68.5% of the mothers were aware of the management of dental trauma. Of the working mothers, 72% were aware of the management of dental trauma while 65% of the non-working mothers were aware. When asked about saving the avulsed tooth, 36% of mothers said that the avulsed tooth can be saved. Regarding mouth guards, 54.5% of the mothers said that they aware of the use of mouth guards to prevent traumatic injuries to the teeth. Of the working mothers 72% knew that mouth guards are useful in the prevention of dental trauma while 37% of the non-working mothers have this knowledge; 68% of the mothers would take the child to the dentist following tooth injury whereas 17% of the mothers would use an emergency kit. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis indicated a significant difference between the responses of working and the non-working mothers with regard to mouth guard knowledge and recommendation (P-value 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the mothers were graduates and were aware of the emergency management of dental trauma. The working mothers had better knowledge and awareness regarding mouth guards (72%) when compared with non-working mothers (37%).
Hegde
Amitha M
AM
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Children Dentistry, A.B Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. amipedo@yahoo.co.in
Kumar
K N Pradeep
KN
Varghese
Eby
E
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000523:psychology; D005392:First Aid; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D016015:Logistic Models; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009064:Mouth Protectors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018677:Tooth Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data