A survey of self-reported oral health practices, behaviour and oral health status of pregnant women attending TBA ante-natal clinics in a Nigerian rural community.

Objectives: To assess the self-reported oral health practices, behaviour and oral health status of pregnant women attending traditional birth attendant (TBA) clinics in a rural community.Methods: A cross sectional survey of the oral health practices and oral health status of sixty-two pregnant women attending traditional birth attendant clinics in a rural community was conducted using interviewer-administered questionnaires.Dental caries experiencewas determined using WHO diagnostic criteria to measure the DMFT,Significant caries (Sic) while oral hygiene status was determined using criteria by Greene and Vermillion. Frequency distribution by age, pregnancy status, occupational status, sugary snack consumption, tooth brushing, exposure to fluoride toothpaste and dental visits were obtained. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and level of significance was placed at p<0.05.Results: Sixty-six percent of the population were in 20-30 years age range and mostly in their third trimester. Caries prevalence was 37%, mean DMFT was 0.87 (SD 1.57) and Sic index was 2.48. Sixty-six percent had good oral hygiene.Seventy-eight percent of the population who had never visited the dentist had some caries experience (p<0.05).Conclusion: Dental utilization was poor and there were a number of unmet treatment needs among pregnant women attending TBA clinics. There is need to train traditional birth attendants to identify simple oral diseases and incorporate them into oral health promotion programmes in order to improve referral of pregnant women, oral health awareness and dental service utilization among pregnant women in the region.Keywords: oral health practices, oral health status, pregnant women, traditional birth attendant clinics, Nigerian rural communit

Oral Candidosis in a group of HIV positive Nigerians

Oral candidosis is one of the commonest oral manifestations of HIV  infection. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral candidosis in relation to CD4 counts and use of antiretroviral drugs among Nigerian HIV infected patients. Design: A cross-sectional study in which an interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 244 consecutive HIV patients aged 16-65years. They were examined for oral lesions including Oral candidosis. The presumptive criteria as defined by ECC Clearing House were used for diagnosis of oral lesions. Result: Forty-six (18.9%) patients presented with oral candidosis of various types. Pseudomembraneous candidosis was the commonest variant seen in 60.0% of those who presented with intra oral candidosis. Prevalence of oral candidosis was significantly associated with use of antiretroviral drugs (

Patient satisfaction: a survey of dental outpatients at the lagos university teaching hospital, nigeria

Background: Patient satisfaction with dental services has received minimal attention in Nigeria. Quality of service is however, an integral part of any business. The study assessed dental outpatients’ satisfaction with oral health care delivery a tertiary institution in Nigeria. The perceptions of the oral health care provider and suggestions that will improve service delivery were also obtained from these consumers.Methods: A modified Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSQ) was used to assess the patients. An aggregate score was also calculated for each respondent for all variables tested under the five items on dental patient satisfaction. The highest possible score was 76, based on the number ofitems assessed. The cut off point for satisfaction was set at 38.Results: Three hundred patients participated in the study. The items with the top three scores were dentist-patient relationship (respect/listen), rapport and infection control with mean scores of 3.5, 3.4, and 3.3 respectively. The range for the aggregate score for level of satisfaction was16-68. High level of satisfaction reported in 159 (53%) of the respondents and low level in 141 (47%). Dissatisfaction was expressed with regards to the infrastructure, electricity/regular supply of water and being treated byunsupervised students in 85.7%, 59.5% and 89% respectively.Conclusions:The overall high level of satisfaction was related to the communication skills and rapport of staff with the patients. There is an urgent need for improvement on infrastructure and provision of a steady supply of water and electricity.Keywords: Patient satisfaction, dental out patients, LUT

Effect of loss of posterior teeth and tooth replacement on Quality of life(QoL)

Background: Posterior tooth loss may result in impairment of masticatory function and subsequently oral health quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of posterior tooth loss and the effect of prosthetic replacement on the quality of life of the patient.Methods: This study was carried out among patients between the ages 25 and 65years attending the Prosthetic Outpatient clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. It involved a total of 100 participants, cases were patients that required removable partial denture for missing posterior teeth, while the control included fully dentate individuals. Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) wasmeasured using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaires before denture placement and 3months after denture use.Results: The most commonly missing posterior teeth were the first molars, the most frequently lost and replaced number of posterior teeth were two teeth. Mean OHIP-14 scores for all dimensions was reduced after treatment of cases with dentures, with significant reduction in physical, psychological and social disabilities and subsequent improvement in OHRQoL. The highest mean score of 3.160±1.447 was recorded before treatment for the physical pain domain while the least score was 0.480 for both social and handicap  domains. Overall mean score for the cases (9.78±6.69) when compared with control (4.36±4.75) was relatively higher.Conclusion: Increased number of tooth loss caused elevated and unfavorable scores of OHIP-14, removable partial denture succeeded in significantly improving the oral health related quality of life of subjects. The findings of this study underscores the importance of replacing missing posterior teeth. Key words: posterior tooth loss, replacements, quality of lif

Description Of Oral Health Status And Dental Needs Of The University Of Lagos Community

Background: Good oral hygiene practices invariably lead to good oral health coupled with the availability of affordable and accessible oral health care facilities. In the absence of these, there abound myriads of oral health issues ranging from malocclusion to dental pain.Objective: The aim of this study is to describe the pattern of oral health issues and dental needs of members of the university of Lagos main campus community.Methods: Across-sectional study using convenience sampling of members of the university who attended the medical centre's health week. Data was collected via interviewer administered questionnaire as well as oral examination. The OHI-S and DMFT Indices wereused to calculate oral hygiene status and burden of caries respectively.Results: a total of 114 persons participated in the study, 92% were staff/students of the university and 66% of participants were females. Prevalence of dental caries was 32.1% while 95.6% showed clinical signs of chronic gingivitis. Only 44% of respondents had clinically good oral hygiene status while only 26% of respondents brushed their teeth twice a week. Dental needs varied from poor oral hygiene to gingival recession and dental caries. As low as 20% reported visiting the dentist in the past year. In addition, 86% reported willingness to utilize the dentist if a facility was present within the premises of the main campus.Conclusion: There is an obvious need for the presence of a dental facility within the university premises as there are a myriad of oral health issues among the members of the University community. Keywords: oral hygiene status, OHI-S, university community, dental needs, utilization

Perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of adults in a Nigerian community about cleft lip and palate

Background: Cleft lip and palate in a congenital deformity, with a defect in lip, alveolus or palate.Objectives: To determine the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of adults in a Nigerian community about Cleft Lip and Palate (CLP), and to determine the factors that affect the community’s perceptions, attitudes and beliefs.Methods: A 16 item interviewer-administered questionnaire was distributed to adults in the community. A 5-point likert scale was used to rate attitude to various aspect of CLPResults: 135 adults participated in the study. Most (77%) of the respondents were aware of CLP. Attempted abortion and smoking by the mother during pregnancy were perceived to cause CLP by 36.3% and 33.3% respectively while an “Act of God” was believed to be the aetiology by 23%. A small percentage (17%) believed it could be punishment from God, ancestors or spirits. Majority (77%) agreed that people with CLP are emotionally disturbed and 69% of the respondents concurred that people with CLP have difficulty making friends or getting married. The respondents showed favourable attitudes toward statements on need for CLP to see the doctor, against making jokes about CLP and hiding a child with CLP at home. Gender, religion, educational status and previous contact did not significantly affect their perceptions, attitudes and beliefs.Conclusion: The respondents have a poor perception of the aetiology of CLP. Some level of stigmatization exists towards CLP. There is need for sociocultural reorientation about CLP in the population studied.Keywords: cleft lip and palate, perceptions, attitudes, belief

Knowledge, perception and acceptance of electronic based record-keeping system among medical record officers in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: The implementation of the Electronic Medical Records system (EMRs) in developing countries has been met with challenges unique to each health care delivery organization.Objectives: The study objective was to determine the Knowledge, Perception and Acceptance of EMRs.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 60 Medical record officers who had worked for 3 months and above in LUTH, Nigeria. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the required data on sociodemographics, knowledge, perception and acceptance of electronic medical records. Data were entered and analyzed using the Epi-Info version 7 statistical analysis software and the level of statistical significance was set at p≤0.05Results: There was a 100% response rate. Out of 60 respondents, 90% had good knowledge of EMRs, 76.7% had a good perception of EMRs while 80% had good acceptance of EMRs. There was a statistically significant association between knowledge of EMRs and the educational status of the respondents (P<0.01). Conclusion: This study showed that the Medical Record Officers in LUTH are enthusiastic about the implementation of EMRs to improve the quality of practice delivered in LUTH and would welcome its implementation

New and Emerging Infections : Impact on the Practice of Dentistry in Nigeria

Objective: To highlight the challenges and impacts of COVID 19 on dental practice in Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A literature search was done using Electronic databases such as Medline, Pub Med and Google Scholar. Words that were searched included “New and Emerging Infections, challenges and Impact on Practice of Dentistry in Nigeria”.Results: New and emerging Infections have far reaching impacts on public health. The dental clinic is a probable environment for the airborne transmission of these infections due to the generation of aerosols and the close contact between the health workers and patients. Conclusion: Strict infection control measures are mandatory in the dental clinic. This translates to prohibitive cost of treatment as most practices have to include additional cost for things as personal protective equipment, disinfectants. &nbsp