An assessment of Brazilian dentists' knowledge about tooth fragment reattachment: A cross-sectional study

Background/Aim

Crown fractures are common traumatic dental injuries and tooth fragment reattachment is a viable option for restoring a fractured tooth. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and experience of dentists in the Federal District regarding the tooth fragment reattachment technique for enamel and dentin fractures.

Materials and Methods

For the cross-sectional observational study, an electronic form was designed with objective and self-report questions for dentists. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, with their absolute and relative frequencies. For the analysis of categorical variables, the nonparametric chi-squared or Fisher exact association tests were used in the statistical software R (version 4.2.1).

Results

A total of 416 dentists participated in the study (58.9% female and 41.1% male). Of these, 70% declared they knew about fragment reattachment, but only 42.3% reported previous experience with this procedure. The most common storage medium used for the fractured fragment was milk (78.1%), and the bonding material used for reattachment was light-cured composite resin (86.3%). A majority (66.3%) reported that for a patient with enamel and dentin fracture, with the crown fragment in good condition, they would choose to do the reattachment.

Conclusion

Dentists demonstrated that they had adequate knowledge about the tooth fragment technique, although many did not have previous experience with this procedure.