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Ernest Kao

Teachers should learn to administer first-aid to students with dental injuries, researchers at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Dentistry say.
The faculty and the HKU Student Knowledge Exchange project has launched a scheme to teach educators how to handle dental trauma. This followed a study that found most teachers did not have proper training in the area.
Appropriate and swift action can help save teeth knocked out during falls or collisions.
"Some think a knocked-out tooth is useless, but if it is protected well in liquid such as cold milk, and if a dentist is consulted right away, it can be saved," said Tiffany Chan, student leader of the project.
A study published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal  last year found that most teachers had never received any training on how to handle dental emergencies, despite having taken regular first-aid courses.
Just 33 per cent of 594 teachers surveyed said a dental injury needed to be treated by a dentist immediately, while only 20 per cent recognised the need to store the tooth in a suitable liquid before seeking a dentist.
Only one in six teachers knew that a permanent tooth could, and should, be put back if knocked out.
"Many teachers lack the courage to do anything for [injured] students but that fear gets passed on to the children," said Dr Mike Leung Yiu-yan of the Faculty of Dentistry, a mentor for the project.
"The appropriate thing to do is to get the child to bite down on the tooth or to use a bandage to keep the tooth in place. The child should then be taken to a dentist immediately."
The 2012 study, approved by HKU and the Hospital Authority, was authored by private dentist Cecilia Young, Wong Kin-yau of HKU Statistics and Actuarial Science Department and Professor Cheung Lim-kwong of the HKU dentistry faculty.
"Teachers' knowledge regarding emergency management of dental trauma is insufficient," the authors concluded in the study.
"An educational campaign dedicated to this topic is recommended."
 


Teachers to be taught first-aid for teeth

News

Hong Kong

Holding a knocked-out tooth in place or putting it in milk may save a pupil's smile


Teachers to be taught first-aid for teeth

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Holding a knocked-out tooth in place or putting it in milk may save a pupil's smile

Holding a knocked-out tooth in place or putting it in milk may save a pupil's smile