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

Malocclusion, psycho-social impacts and treatment need: A cross-sectional study of Tanzanian primary school-children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>studies on the relationship between children's malocclusion and its psycho-social impacts are so far largely unexplored in low-income countries. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malocclusion, reported dental problems and dissatisfaction with dental appearance among primary school children in Tanzania. The relationship of dissatisfaction with socio-demographic characteristics, clinically defined malocclusion and psychosocial impacts of dental anomalies was investigated. Orthodontic treatment need was estimated using an integrated socio-dental approach.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>One thousand six hundred and one children (mean age 13 yr) attending primary schools in the districts of Kinondoni and Temeke completed face to face interviews and a full mouth clinical examination. The survey instrument was designed to measure a Kiswahili translated and culturally adapted Child Oral Impact on Daily Performance (Child-OIDP) frequency score, reported dental problems, dissatisfaction with dental appearance/function and socio-demographic characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of malocclusion varied from 0.9% (deep bite) to 22.5% (midline shift) with a total of 63.8% having at least one type of anomaly. Moderate proportions of children admitted dental problems; ranging from 7% (space position) to 20% (pain). The odds ratio of having problems with teeth position, spaces, pain and swallowing if having any malocclusion were, respectively 6.7, 3.9, 1.4 and 6.8. A total of 23.3% children were dissatisfied with dental appearance/function. Children dissatisfied with their dental appearance were less likely to be Temeke residents (OR = 0.5) and having parents of higher education (OR = 0.6) and more likely to reporting problem with teeth position (OR = 4.3) and having oral impacts (OR = 2.7). The socio-dental treatment need of 12% was five times lower than the normative need assessment of 63.8%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Compared to the high prevalence of malocclusion, psycho social impacts and dissatisfaction with appearance/function was not frequent among Tanzanian schoolchildren. Subjects with malocclusion reported problems most frequently and malocclusion together with other psycho-social impact scores determined children's satisfaction with teeth appearance- and function.</p

What is the value of orthodontic treatment?

Orthodontic treatment is as popular as ever. Orthodontists frequently have long lists of people wanting treatment and the cost to the NHS in England was £258m in 2010-2011 (approximately 10% of the NHS annual spend on dentistry). It is important that clinicians and healthcare commissioners constantly question the contribution of interventions towards improving the health of the population. In this article, the authors outline some of the evidence for and against the claims that people with a malocclusion are at a disadvantage compared with those without a malocclusion and that orthodontic treatment has significant health benefits. The authors would like to point out that this is not a comprehensive and systematic review of the entire scientific literature. Rather the evidence is presented in order to stimulate discussion and debate

MORPHOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL TRAITS OF MALOCCLUSION IN 3-5 YEAR-OLDS IN MOSHI, TANZANIA

Objective: To assess the morphological and functional traits of malocclusion.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.Subjects: Examination for occlusal traits was done on 372 randomly selected 3-5-yearolds (157 males and 215 females).Results: The overall prevalence of malocclusion was 26.9%. Females had significantlymore occlusal anomalies than males. The flush terminal plane (93.8%) was the commonestanteroposterior relation. Excessive maxillary overjet and deep-bite occurred in 5.1%and 21.5% of the children respectively. Reverse overbite (1.9%), frontal open-bite(1.6%), lateral open-bite (0.8%) and posterior cross-bite (0.3%) were relatively rare.Harmful oral habits were uncommon in this population. The sample mean for intercanine width in the maxilla was 31.1mm (SD ±2.72) and for the mandible 25.3mm (SD±2.46). Lack of natural spacing in the anterior segment of the maxilla occurred in 34.4%of the children and 33.6% in the mandible.Conclusion: Generally, females had significantly more occlusal anomalies than males.The flush terminal plane was the commonest anteroposterior finding. Lack of naturalspacing in the anterior segments and deep bite were common

Awareness and concern about malocclusion among 12-15 year-old children in Moshi, Tanzania

Objective: To assess awareness and concern about malocclusion in 12-15 year-olds in Moshi, Tanzania.Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Moshi Municipality in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.Subjects: Two hundred and ninety eight randomly selected Public primary school children aged 12-15 years (158 males and 140 females). Results: About 56% of the respondents thought their teeth were properly aligned. However only 29.1% of the respondents reported being dissatisfied with the way their teeth appeared in their mouth. About 25% of the respondents found their teeth to have been worse than most of their agemates. Children who reported to have been teased due to their malocclusion comprised 25.8%. Those who thought it was unpleasant to stay with malaligned teeth constituted 55.7% of the respondents. Subjective orthodontic treatment need was reported by 69.1% of the sample. Majority of the children (75%) were ready to accept orthodontic treatment. There were significant correlations between factors of awareness and those of concern about malocclusion among the subjects. Conclusions: In spite of very little orthodontic treatment exposure in this population, awareness and concern about malocclusion was reported by a significant proportion of the children. These findings form a baseline line for future studies on the trends of awareness and concern towards malocclusion in this population. They will also be useful in the planning of orthodontic services in Tanzania. East African Medical Journal Vol. 83(4) 2006: 92-9

ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF PARENTS/ GUARDIANS OF PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MOSHI, TANZANIA

Objective: To assess the oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices of the parents/guardians of pre-school children in Moshi, Tanzania.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.Subjects: Parents/guardians of 372 randomly selected 3-5-year-olds.Results: There were 174(46.8%) respondents (156 parents and 18 guardians) aged between20 and 78 years (mean age 35±2.0). About 76% of the respondents were in the older agegroup (over 30 years), 79.9% were married, 63.2% had primary education and 79.9%were either professionals, farmers, skilled technical workers or in business. There weresugar moments reported by the parents/guardians for children with temperaments.Although oral health knowledge was generally poor, more parents/guardians withsecondary education showed relatively better dental knowledge than those with primaryeducation (p&lt;0.05). More than 75% of the parents/guardians gave positive responses inregard to maintaining teeth for life for themselves and for their children. A moderatenumber of respondents 75(43.1%) reported supervising their children during toothbrushing. However, majority (92%) said that their children brushed less than twicea day. Most of the parents/guardians (63.8%) reported no detrimental habits that canlead to functional traits of malocclusion in their children.Conclusion: Some parents/guardians practiced sugar moments on their childrenwhich were not significantly associated with early childhood caries. The oral hygieneknowledge and practices were inadequate. Most of the respondents were positiveabout the need to conserve natural teeth for themselves and for their children

Prevalence of malocclusion among 12-15-year-olds in Moshi, Tanzania, using Bjork's criteria

Objective: To assess the prevalence of malocclusion in 12-15 - year-olds in Moshi, Tanzania. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Subjects: Two hundred and eighty nine randomly selected primary school children (153 males and 136 females) had a clinical examination for malocclusion traits done. Results: The overall prevalence of malocclusion was 97.6%. Angle's Class II and III malocclusion occurred in 6.9% and 11% of the sample respectively. Crowding was encountered very frequently in both jaws, especially in the lower anterior segments. Anterior open bite occurred in 6.2% and the deep bite in 10.7% of the sample. There was no significant gender difference in either the overall prevalence of malocclusion or in the occurrence of the different occlusal traits. Conclusion: It was noteworthy that some of the malocclusion traits recorded were relatively minor deviations from the normal occlusion. Hence the high prevalence of malocclusion did not necessarily imply a heavy burden of need and demand for orthodontic treatment. East African Medical Journal Vol. 83(7) 2006: 372-37

AWARENESS AND CONCERN ABOUT MALOCCLUSION AMONG 12-15 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN MOSHI, TANZANIA

Objective: To assess awareness and concern about malocclusion in 12-15 year-olds in Moshi, Tanzania.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: Moshi Municipality in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.Subjects: Two hundred and ninety eight randomly selected Public primary school children aged 12-15 years (158 males and 140 females).Results: About 56% of the respondents thought their teeth were properly aligned. However only 29.1% of the respondents reported being dissatisfied with the way their teeth appeared in their mouth. About 25% of the respondents found their teeth to have been worse than most of their agemates.Children who reported to have been teased due to their malocclusion comprised 25.8%. Those who thought it was unpleasant to stay with malaligned teeth constituted 55.7% of the respondents. Subjective orthodontic treatment need was reported by 69.1% of the sample. Majority of the children (75%) were ready to accept orthodontic treatment. There were significant correlations between factors of awareness and those of concern about malocclusion among the subjects.Conclusions: In spite of very little orthodontic treatment exposure in this population, awareness and concern about malocclusion was reported by a significant proportion of the children. These findings form a baseline line for future studies on the trends of awareness and concern towards malocclusion in this population. They will also be useful in the planning of orthodontic services in Tanzania