avulsion represents 0.5 - 16% of cases of dental traumas.3 many times teachers are called upon to guide them . hence , if they have prior knowledge of dealing with such emergencies , it would of great value in saving teeth . in order to assess their awareness , a total of 200 questionnaire forms were distributed among teachers who have good knowledge of english . 123 teachers from randomly selected elementary schools in bangalore south city participated in this study . part i included basic demographic information on age , gender , years of teaching experience , prior orientation regarding dental trauma and whether he / she had ever witnessed an accident resulting in an avulsed tooth ( table 1 ) . part i included basic demographic information on age , gender , years of teaching experience , prior orientation regarding dental trauma and whether he / she had ever witnessed an accident resulting in an avulsed tooth ( table 1 ) . of 123 instructors , 90 respondents were women and 33 were males with age groups varying from 20 to 60 years . the response of participants to part ii of the questionnaire ( table 3 ) showed that a total of 52% ( n = 64 ) stated that they can identify , whether it is a primary tooth or permanent tooth , 33.3% ( n = 41 ) stated that they can not identify and 14.6% ( n = 18 ) were unsure . in case of avulsed tooth falling on the ground , 48% ( n = 59 ) would pick it up and 52% ( n = 64 ) would not pick it . about 62.6% ( n = 77 ) would clean the teeth with water after picking it and 13% ( n = 16 ) would clean it with a cloth / paper , and 24.4% ( n = 30 ) would not clean the tooth . . a large proportion of participants 44.7% ( n = 55 ) stated they would take the student with a lost tooth to the dental clinic . 35% ( n = 43 ) stated they would go to the student s home . 17.9% ( n = 22 ) would opt to take the child to a health care center and 1.6% ( n = 2 ) to some other place . 13.8% ( n = 17 ) would seek help within 30 min 27.6% ( n = 34 ) would seek help within a few hours . 20.3% ( n = 25 ) would seek help the next day . vast majority of teachers 63.4% ( n = 78 ) stated that they would not be able to replant the avulsed tooth in its position , only 19.5% ( n = 24 ) would be able to replant the tooth , 17.1% ( n = 21 ) were unsure about it . 40.7% ( n = 50 ) of the participants would prefer to keep the tooth in water 22.8% ( n = 28 ) would use milk . 16.3% ( n = 20 ) would use salt water , only 5.7% ( n = 7 ) prefer saliva to transport tooth and 13% ( n = 16 ) would prefer to leave it dry . the present study was designed for teachers from schools situated in bangalore city south zone . the results of the questionnaire showed that 97.5% of the respondents have not received any orientation regarding avulsion of tooth and only 2.4% had previous training regarding avulsion of tooth , which is very abysmal . this is in line with other studies reported worldwide.4 - 6 this shows that campaigns are not included in their training curricula . the next aspect was that 33.3% of respondents expressed they can not distinguish between permanent and primary teeth . this is necessary for them as deciduous tooth does not require any replantation as it may damage permanent tooth.7 perhaps the most disturbing finding of our study was 52% of teachers would not pick up the tooth after avulsion , which shows they are not aware of replantation . a majority of instructors ( 62.6% ) opined that tooth should be cleaned with water and 13% of them preferred to clean with cloth or paper , which reflects the fact that they are not aware of proper handling of tooth as it may damage the periodontal fibers . it has been proven that success of replantation depends on integrity and viability of fibers.8 in this study , only 19.5%of subjects felt they can perform replantation which is very low . this is in accordance with the study conducted by lin et al.9 in hong kong where it was 17.5% . zakirulla et al.6 stated that replantation while still at the accident site is preferable , but may be difficult due to fear , ignorance , pain , possible bleeding , soft tissue lacerations , and lacked sufficient expertise.44.7% of participants were of opinion that child should be taken to dental office rather than other places , which is statistically significant ( p = 0.082 ) . this is in similar lines with study by zakirulla et al.6 in saudi arabia , who showed 47% , but a study by pagliarin et al.8 showed 80.2% , whose figures were much higher . possible explanation expressed by authors could be that this group felt dentists can take the correct action than any other healthcare professionals . similar findings were observed in a study conducted by hamilton et al.10 , who showed 38.6% . this is very relevant as flores et al.11 stated that the single most important factor in the outcome of treatment is minimum extra - oral time . every effort should be made to replant it within first 15 - 20 min time . this will reduce inflammatory root resorption.12 when immediate replantation is not possible tooth should be stored in optimum media to maintain vitality of periodontal cells . in our study , 40.7% of subjects preferred water and 22.8% milk as storage media . furthermore , our results were comparable with that of results conducted by zakirulla et al.6 , who showed 46% water and 28% milk . according to trope the appropriate biological media for storage of an avulsed tooth until the replantation keep the vitality of the periodontal ligament cells , reduce the inflammatory response , and its ph and osmolality are not harmful to periodontal cells.13 the crucial factors that play a role in good prognosis of replantation are least damage to the root , minimum extra - oral time , optimum storage media , which teachers should be made aware of . awareness about storage media for avulsed teeth among common people help in better prognosis of replanted teeth.14 majority of studies worldwide also reflect the similar inadequate knowledge among teachers , thus the need of including training in school health programs . avulsion has a great impact on social and emotional well - being of the child . by training the trainers , this can be averted considering the fact that teachers are called upon to tend to dental injuries in schools .
background : dental traumas are most common in children in school environment . 
 teachers often come across such emergency situations . the purpose of this study was to evaluate aware - ness of teachers regarding traumas & emergency management.material and methods : a total of 123 teachers participated in this survey . 
 questionnaire forms were distributed among teachers . the data was collected and analysed.results:results showed that 97.5%of teachers received no orientation regarding this , 33.3% of them felt they can not identify the tooth , 52% opined they would not pick up the tooth , 62.6% felt they should clean with water , 44.7% said they would take the child to dental office , 38.2% would seek professional help immediately , 63.4% of them said they would not be able to replace the tooth back & 40.7% of them felt they prefer water to store the tooth.conclusion:overall the knowledge in this regard is grossly inadequate . 
 their answers were based on intuition rather than information . 
 this study suggests urgent need for campaigns & training programs for instructors who are usually the first to witness traumas in schools .