Research Information System
DENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, vol.0, no.0, pp.0-10, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
ABSTRACT
Background/Aim: Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) are a significant global oral health concern. As future practitioners, den-
tal 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 signifi-
cantly improve dental students' knowledge and decision- making accuracy regarding traumatic dental injuries. Thoughtful inte-
gration of mobile applications like ToothSOS into dental curricula may meaningfully enhance both academic development and
early- stage preparedness for real- world emergency situations.