Background: Many patients are taken to the emergency room for dental trauma treatment, but studies reveal that medical professionals do not feel confident in diagnosing and treating children with traumatic dental injuries. The purpose of this study was to determine if a clinical decision support tool (CDST) would improve dental trauma knowledge of primary teeth in medical students and pediatric dentists. Another purpose was assessing effectiveness of print and mobile app CDSTs. Methods: Medical students (n = 100) and pediatric dentists (n = 49) were given a pretest to assess baseline dental trauma knowledge. All subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups for the posttest: no CDST, print CDST, and mobile app CDST. Test scores and total time spent on each test were recorded and analyzed. Results: Compared with medical students, pediatric dentists scored significantly higher in both pretest (8.57 ± 0.96 vs 4.20 ± 1.58; P < 0.001) and posttest (8.37 ± 1.09 vs 4.96 ± 1.99; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in time spent to complete the 2 tests between both groups. Medical students and pediatric dentists who utilized the mobile app CDST had scored highest (P = 0.028) but took the longest time (P < 0.001) on the posttest. Conclusions: Both print and mobile app CDSTs improved diagnosing and managing traumatic dental injuries in primary dentition significantly compared with those without aid. Medical students with CDSTs showed significant improvement in managing primary dental trauma; therefore, it is recommended for better, more accurate diagnosis and treatment in patients.

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding early childhood caries (ECC) prevention and implementation of medical setting-based caries prevention among pediatricians and dentists in Taiwan. Data were collected from currently practicing pediatricians and general and pediatric dentists using self-administered questionnaires. A total of 301 questionnaires were completed by the pediatricians (n = 105), general dentists (n = 117), and pediatric dentists (n = 79). The pediatric dentists obtained significantly higher knowledge and practice scores than the general dentists and pediatricians (p < 0.0001). The pediatricians’ attitude score related to engaging physicians in medical office-based caries prevention was significantly higher than the attitude scores of the general and pediatric dentists (p < 0.05). A Spearman rank correlation analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between knowledge and practice among the general dentists (r_s = 0.271, p < 0.01) and pediatricians (r_s = 0.262, p < 0.01). The correlation between knowledge and attitude among the pediatricians was significantly positive (r_s = 0.242, p < 0.05). Attitude and practice among the pediatricians were significantly positively correlated (r_s = 0.271, p < 0.01). Pediatricians lacked ECC-related knowledge; however, they had a more positive attitude toward medical office-based prevention when they had a higher level of knowledge. Oral health-related education for pediatricians is necessary if such medical office-based caries prevention programs are to be implemented in Taiwan.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, teledentistry was often employed for pediatric emergency treatments. Dental students acted as the first health providers using teledentistry under the supervision of faculties in most hospital-based or university-based medical centers during the lockdown period. The aims of this study were to assess the quality of using teledentistry among general dentists (GDs) and dental students (DSs) for managing pediatric dental emergencies. Methods: In total, 60 DSs and 85 GDs were recruited in this study. Each participant was assigned to one of five teledentistry emergency scenarios in pediatric dentistry using a stratified random assignment method. Teledentistry with five emergency scenario simulations was used to evaluate the quality of diagnosis (QD) and treatment (QT) and the detailed information (DI) among all participants. A post-visit survey collected demographic data, usability, confidence in diagnosis (CD), and confidence in treatment recommendation (CT). Descriptive and inferential statistics data were analyzed. The significance level was set as p < 0.05. Results: Overall, the study showed that GDs and DSs can use teledentistry to provide good quality of diagnosis (74.5%) and treatment recommendations (77.2%). When encountering pediatric dental emergency scenarios, GDs scored significantly higher (p < 0.001) than DSs regarding QD, QT, CD, and CT. Significant differences were noted in QD (p < 0.001), QT (p < 0.001), CD (p = 0.045), and DI (p = 0.042) when the subjects encountered five different scenarios. Significant correlations were noted between the amount of detailed information subjects obtained with the quality of diagnosis and treatment recommendation. Confidence in diagnosis is significantly correlated to the quality of diagnosis (p = 0.034) and treatment recommendation (p = 0.042). However, the confidence in treatment recommendation is not correlated with either QD or QT. Both GDs and DSs hold positive attitudes toward the usability of teledentistry. Conclusions: Teledentistry is effective for diagnosing and managing pediatric dental emergencies. Experienced users provided a better quality of visit compared to novice users, so dental students should be supervised when performing a teledentistry visit.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of short and long term adverse behavioral effects of general anesthesia (GA) in healthy vs. moderate to severe autistic (ASD) children.Methods: Forty healthy and 37 ASD children, aged 3–17 years, undergoing GA for dental surgery participated in this study. Their anesthesia records were reviewed, and their parents answered telephone surveys to assess activity level, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal disturbances, central nervous system effects, and respiratory depression. Three follow-up surveys were taken 8 h, 24 h, and 3 months post-surgery.Results: Four hundred fifty-five incidences of adverse behavioral effects occurred within 8 h post-surgery. Significantly more ASD patients had difficulty walking (P = 0.016) and nausea (P = 0.030), while more healthy children snored in the car ride home (P = 0.036) and talked about the dental surgery (P = 0.027). Three months post-discharge, sixASD patients acted in a way that concerned caregivers compared to 0 healthy patients, (P = 0.008). Incidence of adverse behavioral effects significantly decreased from 8 to 24 h overall.Conclusions: Most behavioral effects occur within 8 h post-surgery. There are potential long term adverse behavioral effects in ASD children from GA, but the chance is low and generally not long lasting.