Background: Dental trauma is a major public oral health problem owing to its high prevalence. The school sports teachers who observe children when they participate in sports have a key role in the prevention and management of traumatic injuries. The present study aims to determine the awareness of sports teachers on the occurrence and prevention of oral-facial trauma in southern Saudi Arabia.
Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study design among sports teachers in a southern subpopulation of Saudi Arabia. A draft questionnaire with 11 items was constructed under three domains: occurrence pattern, prevention, and management of dental trauma.
Results: A total of 191 sports teachers from various schools participated in the survey. The majority (88%) of the teachers had encountered orofacial trauma among children during sporting activity in schools. The most common orofacial structure involved in injury was the teeth (33.5%) and lips (25.2%). Only 50.8% of subjects knew stock tray as a type of mouthguard and 27.7% of teachers responded that they do not recommend mouthguards for children during sporting activities. Nearly 80.6% teachers were aware of the possibility of reimplanting an avulsed tooth. About 72.8% teachers had poor knowledge of immediate action necessary for successful outcomes of reimplanted teeth.
Conclusions: Orofacial trauma was commonly encountered by sports teachers among children during sporting activities in the school. There was poor awareness regarding types of mouth guards and its significance among the sports school teachers. The knowledge related to the management of emergency oral injuries was inadequate.
Keywords: Knowledge; Saudi Arabia; mouthguard; orofacial trauma; school children.