Knowledge and Attitude of Dental Interns about Management of Tooth Avulsion: A Comparative Cross - Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of Saudi and Egyptian dental interns about management of avulsed teeth and to compare between them. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted during the period from October, 2019 till December, 2019 after obtaining ethical approval from the institutional research committee in Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University. A well-designed questionnaire consists of two parts; part I about demographic data and part II about knowledge of interns was distributed. Data from questionnaires was collected and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Chi square test was used to assess percentage and frequencies of independent variables and the relation between the knowledge and the independent variables was estimated. Results: 324 dental interns out of 415 with response rate 78% participated in the study and returned the completed questionnaires on the same day. Dental interns with more than 6 months’ experience and prior knowledge about management of avulsed tooth were better in answering the questions. Dental interns who had not attended an educational program regarding traumatic injuries to teeth showed significant incorrect answers. There were no significant differences between Saudi and Egyptian dental interns in answering 5 from 8 questions related to knowledge about avulsion tooth. Also, there were no significant differences between male and female dental interns who answering 6 from 8 questions correctly. Conclusion: The Saudi and Egyptian dental interns had sufficient level of knowledge about most items regarding tooth avulsion management.