Early Childhood caries in Moshi, Tanzania

Objective: To determine the prevalence, severity and pattern of early childhood caries (ECC) in Moshi Municipality, Tanzania. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Subjects: Three hundred and seventy two randomly selected children aged three to five years (157 males and 215 females) in 2008. Results: Overall caries prevalence was 30.1% with no significant gender difference (p>0.05). The severe form of ECC that attacks primary maxillary incisors occurred in 21.2% of the children. The mean dmft score was 0.95 (SD ± 1.81). The decay component was 0.87 (SD± 1.71), whereas the missing component was 0.08 (SD ±0.41). There was no significant gender difference in the mean dmft scores (p>0.05). Among the posterior teeth, mandibular last molars had the highest caries prevalence (12.4%) and for the anterior teeth, the maxillary central incisors had the highest caries prevalence (21%). Majority of the affected children had three or less teeth affected. The sample mean plaque score was 0.57 (SD ±0.46) with no statistical gender difference (p>0.05). A total of 174 (46.8%) parents/guardians responded to the questionnaire. Caries risk and experience was significantly higher in children with guardians and in children with history of falling asleep with the breast in the mouth respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: Most of the affected children had ECC in the anterior and posterior segments. In the anterior segments, the maxillary teeth were affected more frequently than the mandibular teeth, while in the posterior segments the mandibular teeth were more frequently involved than the maxillary teeth. Significantly higher caries prevalence was found in children under the care of the guardians, children who had slept with breast in the mouth and those with higher sugar moments as the result of snacking.East African Medical Journal Vol. 87 No. 7 July 201

Traumatic dental injuries to permanent anterior teeth in 12 - 15 year old children in Nairobi

Objective: To determine the prevalence and pattern of occurrence of traumatic injuries to permanent anterior teeth.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional survey.Setting: Public primary schools in the City of Nairobi.Subjects: A sample of 1382 children (672 males and 710 females) were interviewed and examined.Results: Among the 1382 children examined, 222(16.1%) had experienced traumatic dental injuries (TDIs). Males had experienced a significantly higher prevalence of trauma 126(18.8%) than females 96(13.5%) p=0.008. Falls were the leading cause of TDIs as reported by 78(35.1%) children. Amongst the, male children, falls were the leading cause of traumatic injuries to the permanent anterior teeth 47(37.3%). Approximately half 43(44.8%) of the females did not remember the cause of injury while 31 (36.5%) had sustained TDIs due to falls. One hundred and seventy two (77.5%) children who had experienced TDIs had no symptoms associated with the traumatised teeth. Ninety six (43.2%) of the children were injured while in the home environment. The maxillary central incisors were the most commonly traumatised teeth accounting for 220(73.5%) out of 299 injured teeth. The most frequently observed type of dental trauma was enamel fracture 206(68.9%) followed by enamel-dentin fracture 71(23.8%). Two hundred (90%) children had not sought treatment for TDIs.Conclusion: Overall traumatised permanent incisors were found to occur fairly frequently with males having experienced significantly more TDIs than females. The prevalence of TDIs was 16.1%; enamel fractures were the most frequently observed injury and falls were the leading cause of trauma

Malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need among 12-15-year-old children in nairobi

Objective: To describe the pattern of occurrence of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional survey.Setting: Six public primary schools in Nairobi, Kenya.Subjects: A randomly selected sample of 1382 children aged 12 to 15 years. Clinical examination for malocclusion was conducted using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). Orthodontic treatment need was derived using the regression equation stated in the DAI.Results: Among the 1382 (672 males and 710 females) children examined, 70 children (5.1%) had missing teeth. Crowding and spacing in the incisal segments occurred in 652 (47.2%) and 644 (46.6%) children respectively. Anterior irregularities were found in 533 (38.6%) of the subjects in the maxilla and 430 (31.1%) in the mandible. Anterior crossbite was found in 86 (6.2%) of the children. The anterior open-bite occurred in 194 (14%) of the children with significantly more open-bite in females than males (p=0007). The maxillary median diastema and antero-posterior molar relation discrepancies were found in 289 (20.2%) and 344 (24.9%) of the sample respectively. The sample mean DAI score was 26.6 (SD 7.8). Seven hundred and thirty two (53.0%) of the children examined had either no need or slight need for treatment whereas 650 (47%) were found with orthodontic treatment needs ranging from elective 318 (23%), highly desireable 176 (12.7%) to mandatory 156 (11.3%).Conclusion: There was an overall high prevalence of malocclusion with 11.3% of the sample exhibiting handicapping malocclusion. Notably, there were no significant gender differences for most of the traits except for anterior open-bite which was found to occur more in females than males

Oral health knowledge, hygiene practices and treatment seeking behaviour among 12-year-old children from Kitale Municipality in Kenya

Background: Several behavioural studies have shown a direct correlation between oral health awareness and practices. Awareness of individuals regarding their periodontal health status when accompanied with knowledge about the periodontal disease process can help improve self oral healthcare and prevent periodontal diseases.Objective: To describe the knowledge on aetiology, prevention of periodontal disease and the oral health practices among 12 year-old children.Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: Eight out of 16 primary schools in Kitale municipality.Results: Majority of the children 197(67.5%) brushed their teeth among whom 109(55.3%) brushed their teeth three times a day, 43(21.8%) brushed twice a day and 45(22.8%) brushed once a day. Out of the children who brushed their teeth, 104(52.8%) started brushing their teeth before joining primary school while 53(26.9%) started brushing their teeth in primary school. A small number of children 29(14.7%) did not remember when they started brushing their teeth. Out of those children who brushed their teeth, 127(64.5%) used a toothbrush, 33(16.8%) used ‘miswaki’ and 32(16.2%) used both toothbrushes and ‘miswaki’. Among those who brushed their teeth, 173(87.8%) used toothpaste while 24(12.2%) did not use any. Less than half of all the children interviewed (36.3%) had visited a dentist before. Most of the children (18.2%) whovisited a dentist went for tooth extraction, 6.8% for tooth cleaning and 4.1 % for filling. A very small number of children (5.1 %) went for check-up. Majority of all the children interviewed (69.9%) had moderate oral health knowledge while only a few children (8.9%) had poor information.Conclusion: A large number of children carried out oral hygiene practices. Majority of those children who brushed their teeth started cleaning their oral tissues before joining primary school, possibly a result of parental influence. The utilisation of dental healthcare services was low among the children in the study

Effect of health education on knowledge and oral hygiene practices of persons living with HIV in Nairobi, Kenya

Objective: To assess the effect of oral health education on knowledge and oral health seeking behaviour of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).Methods: Quasi-experimental study design conducted among 195 Persons living with HIV/AIDS attending two Comprehensive Care Centres (CCC) at the Kenyatta National Hospital (intervention group) and Mbagathi district hospital (non-intervention group) in Nairobi Kenya. The participants were selected using systematic random sampling method and data collected using a questionnaire. Data was collected at baseline, at three months (review 1) and at six months (review 2).Results: There was a significant change in oral health knowledge for KNH participants. However, no significant change in oral knowledge was recorded for MDH participants. The proportion of participants who brushed their teeth at least twice a day increased significantly from 52% to 88% for KNH. The proportion of those who had brushed the previous evening increased from 47% to 83.2%. There was no significant change in the proportion brushing at least twice a day among the non-intervention group. There was a significant association between change in knowledge and change to brushing at least twice a day among the intervention group.Conclusion: Oral health education led to improved oral health knowledge and oral hygiene practices among PLWHA

Dietary patterns and nutritional status of pre-school children in Nairobi

Objective: To determine the dietary patterns and nutritional status of pre-school children in Nairobi, Kenya.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: Pre-schools in Nairobi, Kenya.Subjects: Three hundred and four pre-school children (149 males and 155 females) aged three to five years were assessed.Results: About 96% of the children had been breastfed 46.7% of them for 12-24 months (46.7%), and the mean breastfeeding duration was 20.17 months. The most commonly consumed foods on a daily basis were fruits, vegetables bread, ugali, porridge and milk. The level of malnutrition was low with underweight at 16% stunting 4.3% and wasting 1.0%. The factors that positively correlated with child nutritional status were the age of the mother and father.Conclusions: The children were consuming a variety of foods both at home and in school, and this together with the high literacy levels the parents/guardians could have contributed towards the good nutritional status. East African Medical Journal Vol 82(10) 2005: 521-52