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Effect of the ToothSOS Mobile Application on Dental Students' Knowledge of Emergency Management of Traumatic Dental
Merve Ozdemir1, Hamide Comert1, Atilla Stephan Ataç1
1Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Lokman Hekim University, Ankara, Turkey.
Background/Aim:
Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) are a significant global oral health concern. As future practitioners, dental students must possess sufficient knowledge and skills to manage these injuries effectively. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ToothSOS mobile application in enhancing undergraduate dental students' knowledge of the emergency management of TDIs.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 210 undergraduate dental students from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th academic years participated in this comparative study. Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (ToothSOS) or the control group. Both groups completed a 15-item questionnaire assessing their knowledge of TDI emergency management at baseline (pretest) and again after 4 weeks (posttest). During the posttest, the intervention group had access to the ToothSOS application, whereas the control group completed the assessment unaided. Statistical analyzes included the Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon signed-rank, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with significance set at p < 0.05.
Results:
Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in posttest scores compared to pretest results; however, the ToothSOS group showed a significantly greater increase, with a mean score of 8.70 ± 1.75 compared to 7.20 ± 2.16 in the control group (p < 0.001). Subgroup analyzes indicated that the ToothSOS group achieved significantly higher posttest scores across all examined variables including gender, academic year, prior dental trauma education, awareness of the application, and previous app use (p < 0.05 for all comparisons).
Conclusion:
This study demonstrated that even the patient-directed section of the ToothSOS mobile application can significantly improve dental students' knowledge and decision-making accuracy regarding traumatic dental injuries. Thoughtful integration of mobile applications like ToothSOS into dental curricula may meaningfully enhance both academic development and early-stage preparedness for real-world emergency situations.
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