ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE ON THE OCCASION OF THE AWARD OF AN HONORARY DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LETTERS IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (HONORIS CAUSA) OF THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA 21 JANUARY 2016, DAR ES SALAAM.

Allow me to express my gratitude to you Madame Chancellor and through you to the Open University community for your decision to honor me with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters in International Cooperation and Development. I also thank you for the kind words that you and the University community have said about me and my contribution to the social-political and economic development of our dear country. You may agree with me that the oration was powerful! At times I could not help but wonder whether I am the one being referred to. I am deeply touched and I sincerely appreciate it

Oral habits and open bite among children aged 8-12 years in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Aim: To determine the prevalence of oral habits and their relationship with the occurrence of open bite among 8 to 12 years old children in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam. Study design: A cross sectional study. Subjects and methods: All children aged 8-12 years from four government primary schools were eligible to participate. Using school registers, twenty children of each age were randomly selected giving a total of 100 children from each school. Face to face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire inquired about oral habits of the children including thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, lip sucking, nail biting and/or mouth breathing. Children were also examined clinically for the presence of open bite. Results: A total of 394 primary school children participated. Females constituted 52.5% of the study sample. Nail biting was the most frequently practiced habit (53.3%), followed by lip sucking (13.7%), tongue thrusting (11.9%), thumb sucking (9.4%) and finger sucking (5.1%). Mouth breathing was the least practiced oral habit. Forty six children (11.7%) had an open bite. Tongue thrusting was significantly associated with age being seen more (14.8%, P = 0.026) in the younger age group 8-10 years. Open bite was significantly more prevalent among thumb (P=0.01) and finger (P=0.001) suckers than non suckers. Conclusion: The most common oral habits in this age group were nail biting, lip sucking and tongue thrusting. Open bite was more prevalent among thumb and finger suckers than non suckers. Key words: Oral habits, open bite, school children, Tanzani