Effect of an Educational Programme on the Knowledge Level Among an Emergency Service Medical Team Regarding Tooth Avulsion

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention in improving the level of knowledge of tooth avulsion among non-dental healthcare professionals of an emergency medical service in Brazil and the maintenance of this knowledge after a 6-month period. Materials and Methods: An intervention study was carried out involving the administration of a questionnaire and presentation of a lecture to 73 healthcare professionals (11 physicians, 41 nurses and 21 paramedics) of an emergency medical service in Brazil. The questionnaire was administered before (T0), immediately after (T1) and 6 months after the lecture (T2). McNemar's test was used to compare the responses, with the significance level set at 5% (p 0.05). Results: A general improvement was found regarding the concept of tooth avulsion, replantation, conduct in cases of avulsion, ideal time for replantation, ability to perform replantation and storage medium prior to replantation between baseline (T0) and the post-lecture evaluations (p 0.05). However, an increase in insecurity regarding replantation was found between T1 and T2 (p 0.001). Conclusion: The educational intervention led to a significant increase in the number of correct answers regarding the measures to be taken in cases of tooth avulsion. The professionals' knowledge level remained high 6 months after the lecture. However, a certain degree of insecurity was found regarding the ability to perform replantation. Keywords: dental education, health personnel, interventional studies, tooth avulsion