Abstract
Nurses play important role in the emergency department are often the first line of qualified health-care providers immediately following the dental trauma. Prompt action by them becomes the decisive factor in survival and prognosis of the tooth. Although a few researchers have evaluated knowledge of nurses, hence this study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and awareness regarding emergency management of traumatic dental injuries among nursing interns in various institutions of Saudi Arabia. A 10item questionnaire regarding clinical situation and knowledge of dental trauma and tooth avulsion were collected from 440 intern nurses. The findings of the study showed that, 62.5% of the participants gave a positive response to questions related to the knowledge emergency management of dental trauma. Approximately, 90.9% of participants agreed that nurses play a major role in the emergency management of dental trauma. Majority of participants (91%) agreed that emergency management of dental trauma should be taught in the nursing program at their university level. Though nursing interns have a good attitude toward the management of dental injuries but they lack knowledge regarding the storage media and time management for avulsed tooth. Nurses should be made aware of their possible role in cases of avulsion of permanent teeth, in order to minimize late complications associated with such injuries, which demands need for appropriate training for delivering treatment with more predictability and better prognosis.