Dental Anxiety and Its Consequences to Oral Health Care Attendance and Delivery

Dental anxiety has been reported to be a common problem affecting widespread societies, hence a global public health concern. This chapter provides an updated information to dental practitioners, about dental anxiety and its implication to oral health-care attendance and service delivery. It is introduced by defining dental anxiety, providing a summary of prevalence of the problem among children and adults; and its relationship with sociodemography, oral health status, and cultural issues. Causes of dental anxiety and simple ways to diagnose it and management options of dental anxiety for different age groups of populations are summarized to assist dental practitioners during patient management. How dental anxiety influences dental attendance and ultimately impact oral health status of populations; and its relationship with oral health-care delivery are also discussed. Finally, preventive measures both in community and clinical settings are provided and recommendation for dental professionals and other stake holders is outlined

Sociodemographics and School Environment Correlates of Clustered Oral and General Health Related Behaviours in Tanzanian Adolescents

Objectives: To identify underlying clusters of general and oral health behaviours and acertain possible factors influencing the existence of the behaviours. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 4,847 school adolescents aged 11 to 17 years. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire in Kiswahili inquiring about general and oral health related behaviours, socio-demographics and adolescents’ school relationship. Principal component analysis was employed to identify clusters of health behaviour. Frequency distribution for proportions, cross tabulations with chi-square and a two stage binary logistic regression were done. Results: Principal component analysis identified four clusters from twelve health behaviours; hygiene practices, dietary behaviours, cigarette smoking & alcohol consumption and sedentary related behaviours. Girls, OR 0.8 (95% CI 0.7, 0.9); secondary school attendees, OR 0.5 (95% CI 0.4, 0.7) and adolescents with good school relationship OR 0.7 (95% CI 0.6, 0.8) were less likely to smoke or use alcohol. Urban residents were less likely OR 0.8, (95% CI 0.7, 0.9) to report acceptable dietary behaviours. Adolescents whose fathers had secondary education or higher, were in secondary schools and had good school relationship were most likely to have acceptable hygiene behaviours, OR 1.4 (95% CI 1.2, 1.6), 1.6 (95% CI 1.1, 2.2) and 1.4 (95% CI 1.3, 1.7), respectively. Conclusion: Oral and general health behaviours of Tanzanian adolescents factored into four clusters with hygiene behaviours being most practiced and physical exercise the least. The clustered behaviours were influenced by socio-demographics and school environment

Prevalence of Oral Pain and Barriers to use of Emergency Oral Care Facilities Among Adult Tanzanians.

Oral pain has been the major cause of the attendances in the dental clinics in Tanzania. Some patients postpone seeing the dentist for as long as two to five days. This study determines the prevalence of oral pain and barriers to use of emergency oral care in Tanzania. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,759 adult respondents aged 18 years and above. The study area covered six urban and eight rural study clusters, which had been selected using the WHO Pathfinder methodology. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associations.\ud Forty two percent of the respondents had utilized the oral health care facilities sometimes in their lifetime. About 59% of the respondents revealed that they had suffered from oral pain and/or discomfort within the twelve months that preceded the study, but only 26.5% of these had sought treatment from oral health care facilities. The reasons for not seeking emergency care were: lack of money to pay for treatment (27.9%); self medication (17.6%); respondents thinking that pain would disappear with time (15.7%); and lack of money to pay for transport to the dental clinic (15.0%). Older adults were more likely to report that they had experienced oral pain during the last 12 months than the younger adults (OR = 1.57, CI 1.07-1.57, P < 0.001). Respondents from rural areas were more likely report dental clinics far from home (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.09-13.54, P < 0.001); self medication at home (OR = 3.65, CI = 2.25-5.94, P < 0.001); and being treated by traditional healer (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.25-12.49, P < 0.001) as reasons for not seeking emergency care from the oral health care facilities than their counterparts from urban areas. Oral pain and discomfort were prevalent among adult Tanzanians. Only a quarter of those who experienced oral pain or discomfort sought emergency oral care from oral health care facilities. Self medication was used as an alternative to using oral care facilities mainly by rural residents. Establishing oral care facilities in rural areas is recommended

Management of dental trauma among children in Tanzania

Contains fulltext : 18987.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)120 p

Parental deceptive information: A case of traditional uvulectomy

Traditional uvulectomy (TU) is a partial or radical removal of the uvula by traditional practitioners. Therapeutic uvulectomy is performed as a remedy for various ailments usually; persistent cough, sore throat, dry throat, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, rejection of breast by a child and growth retardation. In Tanzania, TU is done secretly as it is an illegal practice thus often parents do not reveal information of the procedure when complications occur and drive them to seek dental or other medical consultations. A case of deceptive information after traditional uvulectomy is presented