title: The attitudes and awareness of emergency department (ED) physicians towards the management of common dentofacial emergencies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dentofacial emergencies are a common presentation to the emergency department (ED) but there is little recent data on physicians' knowledge, confidence and attitudes in handling these cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was administered to 103 ED physicians. The sample was primarily drawn from London hospitals as well a smaller contribution from around the UK and included physicians with a range of experience and at different grades.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the 102 participants (76.5%) did not receive any formal training in managing dentofacial emergencies. The percentage of participants who were happy to manage common dentofacial emergencies is as follows: dental trauma (20.4%); major facial trauma (39.8%); interpreting facial X-rays (68.0%); and facial suturing (85.4%). When questioned 12.1% of the participants felt that ED physicians should be responsible for managing dental emergencies compared to 22.4% who felt that ED physicians should manage maxillofacial emergencies. Only 3.9% of the participants would opt to be treated by an ED doctor in the event of them presenting to the ED with a dental injury. The remaining 72.5% would prefer to be seen by a maxillofacial surgeon, 23.5% by a dentist and none of the participants opted to be seen by the emergency nurse practitioner.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ED physicians do not feel confident in managing some dentofacial emergencies. This may be attributed to a lack of training in this area as well as exposure to these types of emergencies. There is a need for greater awareness, validated guidelines and training resources for ED physicians to treat dentofacial emergencies as well more research in this field of emergency medicine.
authors: NIHR King's Patient Safety and Service Quality Research Centre, King's College London, London, UK. ctrivedy@gmail.com
authors: Chetan
authors: C
authors: Trivedy
authors: Naonori
authors: N
authors: Kodate
authors: Alastair
authors: A
authors: Ross
authors: Harrith
authors: H
authors: Al-Rawi
authors: Thiagarajan
authors: T
authors: Jaiganesh
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Harris
authors: Janet E
authors: JE
authors: Anderson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000523:psychology*; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D006472:Oral Hemorrhage / Q000628:therapy; D010508:Periodontal Abscess / Q000628:therapy; D011861:Radiography, Dental; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013536:Suture Techniques; D018677:Tooth Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D014098:Toothache / Q000628:therapy