Assessment of first aid knowledge about transportation and storage of avulsed permanent tooth of a child before re-plantation, among the paediatricians of karnal city, haryana, india, a survey study

The first aid knowledge about the transportation and storage of avulsed anterior permanent tooth of a child before re-plantation, of seventy pediatricians practicing in various Government and private hospitals in Karnal city Haryana, India, was assessed through four conceptual questions on a hypothetical clinical condition about anterior tooth avulsion and its re-plantation in 10 years old boy. The collected data was analyzed as a whole as well as in four different groups of pediatricians having experience as G1, < 10 years, G2, >10 to 20 years, G3, >20 to 30 years and G4,>30 years. The percentage of pediatricians having different options for three different questions were calculated and in addition to that knowledge-score of each pediatrician was calculated by assigning one and zero to right and wrong options of each question. Average knowledge about questions viz.Q1, ‘If you come across a patient with avulsed tooth, what would you recommend?’, rightly answered as, put the tooth back into the socket and refer to the dentist, by 28.57% pediatrician with knowledge score 0.28±0.043, and Q2, ‘What would you recommend as the storage medium of choice for the transport of the avulsed tooth’, answered correctly as (HBSS) by 21.42 % pediatrician with knowledge score 0.22±.094. Very poor knowledge about Q3, ‘If a permanent tooth to be replanted has fallen on the ground and was covered with dirt, what would you recommend’, answered correctly as, rinse with tap water by 8.57 percent of pediatricians with knowledge score 0.06±0.078. The study demonstrates a mild negative correlation between the first aid knowledge and length experience of pediatricians about the transportation and storage of avulsed anterior permanent tooth before re-plantation.