Search

Background: Teachers play key roles in the educational system, and if well trained and motivated on oral health, they may be able to impart this knowledge to their pupils. The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral health awareness of secondary school teachers. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted amongst 120 teachers in eight secondary schools in Lagos State using a self-administered questionnaire. Information obtained included sociodemographic data and oral health knowledge, attitude and practices of the respondents. Data entry and analysis were done using the SPSS version 20. Confidence interval for statistical tests was set at 95% at P < 0.05. Results: Response rate was 100%. The majority of the teachers in the eight schools obtained an oral health knowledge score of 58.33%, which was fair. Only 27.5% of teachers in the sampled schools had a positive attitude towards oral health while 72.5% had a negative attitude. The oral health practices of 26% of the teachers was poor, 63.5% had fair oral health practices while 26.0% of the teachers had good oral health practices. Conclusion: Overall, the oral health knowledge and practice was fair among the school teachers and majority had a negative attitude towards oral health. With further education, they should be able to serve as agents of oral health education in schools.

Introduction: this study assessed the relationship between exposure to secondhand smoking (SHS) and its association with self-reported anxiety, depression and susceptibility to smoking among adolescents in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: depression among study subjects was determined using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) while the Generalized Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) was used to determine anxiety levels. Susceptibility to smoking cigarettes was also determined while the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 26.0 software was used for data analysis. Significant associations were determined at Pvalues <0.05. Results: of the 300 adolescents surveyed (mean age 12.9±1.43), 7.6 % were regularly exposed to SHS, of which 3.0% were daily exposed to SHS indoors. In multivariable analyses, indoor SHS exposure for = 1 hour daily was associated with increased odds for susceptibility to smoking (AOR=3.793; 95%-CI: 0.98-14.60; p= 0.052) and increased odds for depression (AOR=1.303; 95%-CI: 0.84-2.01; p= 0.228) and slightly reduced odds for anxiety (AOR=0.952; 95%- CI: 0.62-1.47; p=0.822). Conclusion: secondhand smoking exposure was associated with higher odds of susceptibility to smoking cigarettes and depression among adolescents exposed to SHS, especially among females living in cramped accommodations. Further validation of these findings should however be determined by cohort study designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: in sub-Saharan Africa, 62% of the urban population reside in slums but there is paucity of data on the prevalence of dental caries in underprivileged children residing in urban slums in diverse regions of Nigeria. The purpose of our study was to determine the caries experience, risk factors, indicators and their association with anthropometric indices among children in a Nigerian slum. Methods: this was a cross sectional survey that utilised cluster sampling technique for recruiting the study participants. The participants included children from the four cluster areas of Makoko; Makoko North, Makoko Central area, on Water residents and South-East Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria; 684 children were enlisted for the study. Caries was recorded based on the WHO criteria while the weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ), and weight for height (WHZ) measures were used to assess each child's nutritional state. The chi-square test was used to test bivariate associations. Statistical significance was set at 0.05. Results: out of the 684 children seen, 64 (9.9%) had dmft =1 with range of 1-12; (127 primary teeth were decayed; 6 missing due to caries; 0 filled); while 45 (7.1%) had Decayed Missing Filled Teeth (DMFT) =1 with range of 1-6; (79 permanent teeth were decayed; 14 missing due to caries; 0 filled). Maternal and Paternal educational level, child's age, consumption of cariogenic meals, and history of dental visits were all significantly associated with caries experience (p<0.05). For children with dental caries, the mean weight for height, height-for-age, weight for age- and BMI-for-age z-scores were 0.33±2.6; - 1.49±1.8 and -0.79±1.90.58, -0.16), respectively, and these z-score values were lower than those in the caries-free children. The BMI-for-age z-scores were significantly lower in children with dental caries than in caries free children (p=0.005). Conclusion: dental caries, which was mainly untreated was moderately prevalent among the children surveyed in the urban slum. There was also a significant association between the presence of caries in this population and low BMI. Specifically designed and well-targeted oral health interventions that takes status into consideration is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of dental caries in children still remains challenging due to lack of cooperation with conventional treatment modalities. Recently, the use of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) has proved useful in addressing this challenge. Aim: This clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) in arresting caries in children in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: This was a phase III balanced randomized controlled school based interventional study on 240 children. The study group was treated with SDF while GIC was used in the control group. Follow up visits in 2 weeks, 1 month, and 3 months were carried out to assess the treatment outcome. Inferential statistics with the use of Pearson Chi-square test and Independent Student t-test were used at 5% level of significance. Results: There was significant relationship between SDF and caries arrest in 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months' assessment period (p = 0.001). The control group showed continuous decline (71.7%, 54.3% and 50.9%) in restorative success from 2 weeks to 3 months respectively. The mean ± SD and Confidence Interval (CI) of arrested caries in the SDF group were 113± 1.24 and 113.1 - 113.5 respectively. In the control group the mean ± SD and CI of restorative success were 69.3±11.8 and 67.2 - 71.4. The effect size was 5.24. Conclusion: The result of the study showed that SDF was effective in arresting caries in children without any harm and there was statistically significant difference in the use of 38% SDF in arresting caries in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: because efforts directed toward oral health promotion and disease prevention are fundamentally superior to dental rehabilitation after disease development, early preventive dental visits are widely encouraged by dental professional and academic stakeholders. Aim: this study aimed to determine the perceptions and practices of mothers with regards to the establishment of dental home at four local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: was a community-based descriptive household survey conducted amongst mothers in Alimosho, Ikorodu, Surulere and Epe LGAs of Lagos State. Socio-demographic data, information about the importance of primary teeth, knowledge about dental home as well as their child's age at first dental visit and reasons for attending was obtained with a validated, structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and multivariable regression analysis were conducted, and the level of significance was set at P<0.05. Results: the highest proportion of the mothers were aged between 26-30 years (27.4%; mean age: 34.58±7.8 years) and had a tertiary level of education (n=206, 59.9%); most respondents (n=80, 51.4%) did not know the age a child should be taken to the dental clinic for the first time and had not taken their child for any dental visit (n=229, 65.4%). Out of those who had previously taken their child for dental visits, the greater proportion (n=115, 95.0%) took the child when he/she was older than one year of age. Overall, only 126 (36.0%) respondents had a good perception about oral health and the need for a dental home while 224 (64.0%) respondents had poor knowledge. Logistic regression analysis of predictor variables that showed mothers with a tertiary level of education (OR=0.108; CI=0.0023-0.495) and those with 2-3 children (OR=0.482; CI=0.253-0.920) had significant lower odds of poor perception about the importance of a dental home. Conclusion: maternal knowledge and practices with regards to dental home were poor and inadequate. It is necessary to create more awareness among parents/caregivers, especially through antenatal and immunization clinics to establish the concept of dental home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among dentists in Nigeria, where it is underreported, and to correlate these MSDs with occupational and stress-related ergonomic challenges. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted among randomly selected dentists in Nigeria. A modification of the validated Nordic questionnaire was utilized to determine the prevalence of MSDs. Paired t-tests and analysis of variance tests were used to determine statistical differences between numerical variables. The logistic regression analysis was used to confirm significant effect of predictor variables on work-related MSDs (WMSDs). Difference at the 5% level was accepted as significant. Results: Most of the participants were males (58.8%), aged between 26 and 30 years (37.2%), had <5 years of experience (38.2%), and worked an average of 31--40 min for each patient. Eightyeight participants (44.2%) had WMSDs within 7 days, whereas 126 (63.3%) had in the preceding year. Within a 12-month period, however, neck pain was the commonest complaint (22.2%), followed by lower back (20.6%) and upper back pain (18.3%). The linear regression analysis showed that age of participants: >40 years [Exp β: 1.003; confidence interval (CI): 0.848-1.187; P = 0.020], body mass index: obese (Exp β: 1.079; CI: 0.733-1.589; P = 0.027), average time spent on each patient: >50 min (Exp β: 0.903; CI: 0.313-- 2.609; P = 0.049), having dental nurses in the clinic: >10 (Exp β: 0.959; CI: 0.410-2.243; P = 0.000), and a high level of environmental stress (Exp β: 1.092; CI: 0.862-1.384; P = 0.029) were significantly associated with MSDs. Conclusion: Our study showed that dentists who were older than 40 years, those who were obese, those who spent an average of 50 min on each patient, and those who had few dental nurses in the clinic and had a high level of environmental stress had a significantly higher prevalence of MSDs. Modifiable chairs, correct sitting postures by the dental surgeon and the patient, adequate lighting, use of indirect vision, use of magnification loupes, and sufficient rest and breaks at work could help to ameliorate these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]