Media

HKU Faculty of Dentistry promotes school teacher training
in Dental Emergencies

02 Aug 2013

 

Appropriate emergency action by teachers could help save permanent teeth that are accidentally knocked out at school by falls and collisions. However, very few teachers have the necessary know-how, and Hong Kong has shown a serious lack of relevant teacher-training in the past decade, according to research done by the Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong.

As a first step in remedying the situation, a team of staff and students from the HKU Faculty of Dentistry has been running workshops for primary and secondary school teachers on how to handle dental traumas. The Anglican (Hong Kong) Primary Schools Council and the Hong Kong Council for Educational Administration were external collaborators for this “HKU Student Knowledge Exchange Project”.

Media representatives are invited to a Media Briefing for this HKU Student Knowledge Exchange Project, “Management of Jaw, Face, and Dental Trauma – Educational Campaign for Primary and Secondary School Teachers”

Date:      7 August 2013 (Wednesday)
Time:      11:00 am – 12:00 noon
Venue:   Lecture Theatre 2, G/F, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
Medium: Cantonese

Speakers will include the following: Student Leader Ms Tiffany CL Chan; Project Mentors Dr Mike YY Leung (Clinical Assistant Professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery), Prof Lim K Cheung (Chair Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery), and Prof Gary SP Cheung (Clinical Professor of Endodontics); and a representative of one of the external collaborators, Mr Chang-keung Tse (Chief Administrator of the Anglican (Hong Kong) Primary Schools Council).

Also to be discussed will be two relevant research articles by two of the Project Mentors, which inspired this HKU Student Knowledge Exchange Project.

A study co-authored by Prof Gary SP Cheung in the journal Dental Traumatology in 2001 was the first to highlight the need for local teacher-training on dental trauma.                                                                                

The situation has not improved much in the past decade, according to research co-authored by Prof Lim K Cheung in the October 2012 issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal.

Even during the Student Knowledge Exchange Project, Ms Tiffany CL Chan noticed that some teachers do not know how to protect a knocked-out tooth or a broken tooth crown. “Some think a knocked-out tooth is useless, but if it is protected well in liquid such as physiological saline or skimmed milk, and if a dentist is consulted straight away, it may be saved,” she says. “Moreover, some teachers are not aware it is not good to wrap the tooth in paper tissue or to touch the root. These actions may wipe off or damage cells and affect reinsertion into the gum.”

Dr Mike YY Leung was very satisfied with the Faculty project, which was funded by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund. “Our training course gave the school teachers practical information, and afterwards they felt more prepared to handle dental trauma,” he says. “I am also happy that our dental students can apply what they have learnt to help more people.”

Media contact:
Mr Oi-sing Au, Communications and Development Officer, Knowledge Exchange Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Tel: 2859 0454; E-mail: singau@hku.hk

For more information about the HKU Faculty of Dentistry, please visit http://facdent.hku.hk; Facebook page: www.facebook.com/facdent