Dental habits among 2 to 5 years old children in Benin city

Objective: To assess dental habits and factor associated occlusal traits among 2-5years old children in Benin City, Edo State.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out amongst 352 respondents using systematic sampling technique for selection. Pre-tested interviewer administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was analyzed with IBM SPSS version 21.0 software. The association between socio-demographic variables and dental Habit amongst respondents was analyzed using chi squared test and Fisher's exact test where applicable. The level of significant was set at p < 0.05.Results: The prevalence of Dental habit in the study was found to be 71.0%. Digit sucking was the most prevalent dental Habit in the study 36.0%. The highest proportion of tongue thrusting was found among 3-4years age group while bruxism was higher among 2years old. More than Half the respondents 54.0% believed anxiety to be a predisposing factor to dental habit. Spacing was observed to be prevalent as occlusal trait among respondents 51.7%.Conclusion: The study revealed an overall prevalence of dental habits of 71.0% with higher prevalence of finger sucking, bruxism and lip sucking among males while mouth breathing, tongue thrusting and use of pacifiers was found to be higher among females. The study revealed common predisposing factor to development of dental habit to be stress, anxiety, imitation of habits, loneliness, abandonment. The study revealed a high prevalence of spacing and open bite during the intraoral assessment

Injury incidence and characteristics in South African school first team rugby: A case study

Background: Despite its apparent popularity, participation in the sport of rugby union is accompanied by a significant risk of injury. Concerned parties have recently questioned whether this risk is acceptable within school populations. This is difficult to assess within the South African schools' population as no recent longitudinal injury studies exist.Objectives: To determine the training habits, rugby-related exposure and injury risk within a population of South African high school first team rugby players.Methods: Training and match exposure in both school and provincial competition were examined and the resultant injuries were longitudinally observed for the duration of a South African high school rugby season.Results: Match (79, 95%CI 52-105 injuries/1 000 h) and training (7, 95%CI 3-11 injuries /1000h) injury incidences were demonstrated to be greater than previously reported incidences in similar populations in England and Ireland. Weeks where players were exposed to both school and provincial competition (34, 95%CI 19-49 injuries /1 000 h) had significantly (p<0.05) greater injury incidences than during school competition alone (19, 95%CI 12-26 injuries /1 000 h).Conclusion: The injury risk demonstrated was greater than expected and represents reasons for concern. Possible reasons for the high injury incidence recorded may be the frequency of games played within the season, and the overlap of school and provincial competitions. It should be noted that these results were taken from one school over one season and might not be representative of the incidence of school rugby injuries overall. However, this research demonstrates the need for a multischool longitudinal study within South African schools rugby to determine the overall risk

Cigarette Smoking Habits among Adolescents in Northeast Nigeria

Tobacco smoking is a growing public health problem in the developing world. The health hazards of smoking are well documented; and prevention of smoking has been described as the single greatest opportunity for preventing noncommunicable disease in the world today. A cross-sectional survey was carried out to determine the cigarette smoking habits among adolescents in a rural setting in northeast Nigeria. One hundred and seventy-one (171) adolescents aged 12 to 17 were randomly selected from four districts of Yola south Local Government Area of Adamawa State. They responded to a modified version of the standard questionnaire recommended for surveying smoking habits in young people. Of 109 males; 44 (40) and 62 females fourteen (23) were current light smokers; with over 85of all smokers consuming fewer than 10 cigarettes a day. The prevalence of smoking in this study was 33.9. Over half of current smokers and ex-smokers started smoking between the ages of 13 and 15 years. The largest group of male and female smokers were influenced to start smoking by the relative influence of one or both parents; siblings; or friends; and only 25of males and 21.4of females were influenced by advertisements. Most respondents continued to smoke even when they were aware of the health hazards of smoking. Anti-tobacco education and awareness should be adopted in the curriculum of schools and colleges. All forms of tobacco advertising and promotional activities should be banned in Nigeria; and parents should be encouraged to adopt more responsible attitudes toward smoking in the home

The Prevalence of Oral Habits Among 4 to 15 year Old School Children in Lagos

Objective: To provide information regarding the prevalence of oral habits among a group of Nigerian children. Study Design : This is cross-sectional study of 928 children; 431 males and 497 females aged 4 to 15 years from both rural and urban areas of Lagos State in Nigeria. Habits assessed included digit; lip and tongue habits. Results: Thirty four point one per cent of the children examined presented with an oral habit. Of these; digit sucking was the most frequently occurring; seen in 50 of the children with oral habits. Tongue and lip habits occurred in 27 and 23 of children respectively. There was observed a steady decrease in oral habits with an increase in age. The prevalence being highest among 4 to 5 year olds (44.2) and gradually decreasing to 11.8 among the 14 to 15 year age group. Oral habits were found to be slightly more common among males than females; though this finding was not significant. Socio-economic status (SES) was found to have a significant effect on the occurrence of oral habits. Forty eight per cent of all children of high SES engaged in an oral habit; whereas this was observed in only 24.4of all children of low SES. Conclusion : The findings of this study indicate that there is an increased prevalence of oral habits among children in the population in recent times. The occurrence of these habits is more frequently seen in children from families of high socio-economic status

Root surface caries occurence; oral hygiene status and habits in a selected suburban population; Ile-Ife; Nigeria

Objectives: The study evaluated root surface caries (RS C) occurrence in relation to oral hygiene status and habits in a suburban Nigerian Population. Methods: Seven hundred and twenty consecutive subjects; aged 20 years and above of both genders; attending the General Outpatient Department (GOPD) of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC); Ile-Ife; Nigeria; were recruited. RSC was scored with Banting's diagnostic convention and Oral Hygiene Status (OHS) with Oral Hygiene Index - Simplified (OHI-S). Results: RSC prevalence figure was 11.6. While the association between RSC and OHS was significant (P 0.05) that between RSC and Oral Hygiene Habit (OHH) was not proven (p 0.05). RSC occurrence increased with advancing age. Frequency of tooth cleaning was not significantly associated with RSC occurrence; and being male or female had no significant effect on RSC occurrence. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study; though RSC does not seem to be a serious public health problem in the studied population; Oral Health Education campaign should be adopted for preventive and early care

Root Surface Caries Occurrence; Oral Hygiene Status and Habits in a Selected Suburban Population; Ile-Ife; Nigeria

Objectives: The study evaluated root surface caries (RS C) occurrence in relation to oral hygiene status and habits in a suburban Nigerian Population. Methods: Seven hundred and twenty consecutive subjects; aged 20 years and above of both genders; attending the General Outpatient Department (GOPD) of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC); Ile-Ife; Nigeria; were recruited. RSC was scored with Banting's diagnostic convention and Oral Hygiene Status (OHS) with Oral Hygiene Index - Simplified (OHI-S). Results: RSC prevalence figure was 11.6While the association between RSC and OHS was significant (P 0.05) that between RSC and Oral Hygiene Habit (OHH) was not proven (p 0.05). RSC occurrence increased with advancing age. Frequency of tooth cleaning was not significantly associated with RSC occurrence; and being male or female had no significant effect on RSC occurrence. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study; though RSC does not seem to be a serious public health problem in the studied population; Oral Health Education campaign should be adopted for preventive and early care