526 - Knowledge that School Nurses Possess to Effectively Care for Traumatic Dental Injuries

Purpose: Multiple studies explore the prevention and management of traumatic dental injuries, but few pertain to the knowledge that school nurses possess to identify and manage these injuries. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge that school nurses in North Carolina possess to effectively care for dental trauma.

Methods: A survey was distributed to school nurses by the School Nurse Association of North Carolina via email and posted to the internal forum for members. The survey obtained demographic information and assessed the level of knowledge to appropriately identify and care for four dental trauma cases.


Results: This study revealed that school nurses identified over 50% of traumatic dental injuries and their management. The dental trauma with the prognosis that depends the most on timely treatment is an avulsion. However, only 53.3% of school nurses knew that reimplantation within the hour would lead to the highest success and 68.9% understood that immediate reimplantation would be ideal. 100% of nurses responded that both milk and Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution are suitable options to store the tooth in if reimplantation was not an option.


Conclusions: A combined average of 68.65% of the traumatic dental injuries were correctly identified and a combined average of 66.18% were appropriately managed. A gap in this knowledge still exists. Due to the importance of timely treatment, it would be beneficial for school nurses to receive more information on this subject either through continuing education courses or through distribution of resources that are currently available.