Continuing dental education in the treatment of dental avulsion: Polish dentists’ knowledge of the current IADT guidelines

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the knowledge and experience of the treatment of avulsed teeth amongst Polish dentists 5 years after the publication of IADT guidelines. METHODS: On the basis of IADT guidelines, a voluntary anonymous 12-item questionnaire was developed to evaluate dentists' knowledge on the treatment of avulsed teeth. The survey was conducted during three continuing education courses, which took place in Bialystok, Poland and covered 133 dentists. Data were analysed with Statistica 6.0 using Mann-Withney U- and Kruskal-Wallis tests (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The study revealed that Polish dentists were not prepared to deal with dental avulsion. 63.2% of respondents have never treated such patients, and 68.45% have never attended any postgraduate course on dental trauma. Sufficient knowledge was presented only according to the way of cleaning a contaminated tooth. Lack of knowledge was observed in fields: method of choice in first aid in dental avulsion (23.3% of correct answers) and critical extra-oral dry time (26.3%). Dentists practising <10 years had better knowledge than those with greater experience (P = 0.0000). Gender, previous experience in the treatment of avulsion, postgraduate education in dental trauma and subjective knowledge assessment were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: There is a gap in the system of continuing dental education in Poland. Polish dentists need to familiarise themselves with the avulsion management procedures.