A study to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dental injuries in children engaged in sports

Krupa Mahesh Patil; R Sushma; Parikshit Avinash Barve; Lekhika Ashok Dhoot

doi:10.4103/ijmo.ijmo_10_21

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2021 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 2 | Page : 37-39

A study to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dental injuries in children engaged in sports

Krupa Mahesh Patil¹, R Sushma², Parikshit Avinash Barve¹, Lekhika Ashok Dhoot¹
¹ Intern, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, KIMSDU, Karad, Maharashtra, India
² Associate Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, KIMSDU, Karad, Maharashtra, India

Date of Submission	04-Jun-2021
Date of Acceptance	21-Jun-2021
Date of Web Publication	31-Aug-2021

Correspondence Address:
Dr. R Sushma
Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Sciences, KIMSDU, Karad, Maharashtra
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

DOI: 10.4103/ijmo.ijmo_10_21

Abstract

Background: Maintaining a physically active lifestyle is must for a healthy body and mind. Regular exercise is known to be associated with reduced mortality and reduced incidence of systemic diseases. It has been documented that children between the ages of 7 and 14 years are more prone to injuries, especially dental as they have not developed proper coordination and less aware of the prevention of injuries while playing. Dental injuries include lip lacerations, avulsion of teeth, fractures of teeth, and jaws. Prognosis of dental trauma is better if the first-line treatment received by the patient is done by person who is aware and knows all the possible treatment modalities. Aims and objectives: The main objective of the study was to take into consideration the knowledge the population has about the dental trauma and the various preventive measures for the same. Materials and Method: For the study, a sample size of 150 patients were included and divided into a group of 75 amles and 75 females respectively. The participants were selected on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Parents of children who were engaged in contact and non contact sports were included to complete the study. Results: The p-value was calculated for the study and was highly non significant as the knowledge about the dental trauma and preventive measures were found to be similar between the male and female participants. More than half of the population had no clue about re-plantation of the avulsed tooth from the oral cavity. Conclusion: Majority of the study population had knowledge about fractured tooth and lip laceration, on the other hand they had little or no knowledge regarding the preventive measures for the dental trauma. The studies for larger sample size and wide range of age groups in different areas in Maharashtra are recommended to overview the Knowledge and various preventive measures that an individual can take when injured while playing sports.

Keywords: Attitude, injury, knowledge, luxation, prevention, trauma

How to cite this article:
Patil KM, Sushma R, Barve PA, Dhoot LA. A study to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dental injuries in children engaged in sports. Int J Med Oral Res 2021;6:37-9

How to cite this URL:
Patil KM, Sushma R, Barve PA, Dhoot LA. A study to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dental injuries in children engaged in sports. Int J Med Oral Res [serial online] 2021 [cited 2023 May 28];6:37-9. Available from: http://www.ijmorweb.com/text.asp?2021/6/2/37/325269

Introduction

Sports is necessary as it promotes a healthy lifestyle and reduces the risk of systematic diseases.^[1],[2] Participants in sports are at higher risk of sustaining trauma to oral soft and hard tissues which include chipped, luxated or avulsed tooth, luxated soft tissues, and maxillary and mandibular fractures. Various studies stated that sports-related injuries account 10%–36% of injuries.^[3],[4] Number of studies conducted stated that children between the ages of 7 and 14 years are prone to injuries.^[5] This is mainly due to developing motor skills and lack of coordination, also mostly the children in this age group are hyperactive and tend to explore new places, things, and games.^[6] Tooth injuries often result in impairment of proper function, esthetics, and phonetics and may also affect the patient psychologically.^[7] The first-line treatment provided by the primary caretakers has the potential to reduce the treatment cost and prevent psychological trauma.^[8] This study aimed to study the knowledge attitude and practice of dental injuries in children during sports in Karad, through a carefully constructed questionnaire after which they were educated.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out from December 2020 to February 2021 for 3 months among the parents of pediatric patients. A convenient sample size of 150 was chosen for the study and was equally divided into male and female categories of 75 each. The participants were chosen using simple random sampling method using the following inclusion and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria included parents of children who are aged between 7 and 14 years. Those who understand English and/or Marathi, Parents of children who are involved in sports (contact/non-contact). Parents who are willing to participate. Parents whose children are below the age of 7 years and above the age of 14 years. The exclusion criteria involved parents who do not understand English and/or Marathi. Those who are not willing to participate. Parents whose children are handicapped or specially challenged. The purpose and nature of the study were thoroughly explained to the participants. All procedures performed in the study were conducted in accordance with ethics standard given in 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, as revised in 2013. The study proposal was submitted for approval and clearance was obtained from the ethical committee, of our institution. A written informed consent was obtained from each participants. The participants were provided with a link to a Google form (https://forms.gle/EDJDkBcucrSgJJ5u8) which included questionnaire evaluated by eight subject experts. The participants were asked to fill the forms after which, they were explained about the aforementioned topic and various treatment modalities for the same. The questions were framed such that the parent's knowledge attitude and practice regarding dental injuries during sports could be established.

Results

For this study, 150 participants were involved whose children were between the age of 7 and 14 years and were involved in playing sports. Out of the total involved participants, 75 were female and 75 were male. The P value was calculated for the two categories (female and male) was not significant regarding the knowledge or prevention of dental trauma.

Responses of these 150 participants were collected and evaluated. 100(66.66) participants perceived that children between the age of 6 and 12 years were at a higher risk of oral injuries [Table 1]. Of 136 participants (90.66%) were aware that the anterior teeth were more to injury during sports when compared to the 14 participants (9.33%) who answered that posterior teeth were at greater risk of injury. Twenty-three study participants (22%) knew about dental injuries from the Internet, while 50 participants (33.34%) came to know more from the other parents while practicing.

Table 1: Descriptive statistics

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The most common preventive measure was the mouth guard which was known by 35 participants (23.33%) and other preventive measure known was the helmet (28.67%). Majority of the population did not have any knowledge about the storage of the avulsed tooth and how it can be brought to the dentist, however, 30 participants knew that water can be used as a storage medium, 18 participants (12%) used saline to store. Other mediums known were milk and a moist towel. Out of all, 56 study participants (37.33%) had the knowledge that a tooth can be placed back in the oral cavity after 1 h.

Discussion

Sports activities are associated with risks which include hard and soft tissue injuries, some of which have life-long consequences.^[9] The risk of oral injuries, significantly is reduced by the use of proper protective equipment, such as mouthguards and helmets.^[9] These devices offer protection as they separate the cheeks and lips from the teeth, preventing contact of opposing arches and protecting the soft tissues from injury.^[10] Fractured tooth was the most common type of injury known to the participants; this was in accordance with previous studies.^[11] Lip laceration too, were found to be the most common type of injury among the participants.^[12] In the study performed anterior teeth were most commonly affected than posterior teeth when undergone trauma and this was in agreement with the studies reported.^[13] Individual after have undergone a dental trauma usually avoids going to the dentist, but in this study population, 31 participants had suffered dental trauma in their childhood and out of which only eight people had received dental treatment. The factors that affect the individual after undergoing trauma usually are mastication, esthetics, speech, and self-confidence, from the selected population majority said that mastication was the factor that affected them the most followed by aesthetics, self-confidence, and speech.^[14] Majority of the participants (67.3%) had some knowledge about dental injuries. The risk of oral injuries during performing sports can be reduced substantially using appropriate preventive measures.^[15] The preventive measures for sports were not taken by most of the participants as they were not aware of the types of the preventive measures. The medium through which the avulsed tooth should be carried to the dentist after an injury was not known to half of the participants of the study as in previous studies conducted, while the other half knew about few transport mediums. The duration for the reimplantation of the avulsed tooth varied in the study population.

Conclusion

Within the limitation of the study, it is concluded that fractured crown is the most common type of injury that an individual can undergo following lip laceration. Majority of the population selected for the study did not have any knowledge of the type of oral injuries one can have and the treatment modalities for the same. Many lacked the knowledge of preventive measures but the other half knew about it from their friends, family, and coaches. The knowledge of various mediums through which the intact tooth can be brought to the dentist was also not known. Further, the studies for larger sample size and wide range of age groups in different areas in Maharashtra are recommended to overview the Knowledge and various preventive measures that an individual can take when injured while playing sports.

Financial support and sponsorship

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed to be University, Karad - 415 110, Maharashtra, India.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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