A ten year audit of traumatic dental injuries in children in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria

Objective: To determine the prevalence, management and outcome of traumatic dental injuries among children treated at the Paediatric Dental Clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Methods: Data of children with traumatic dental injuries were collected from the clinical register for all children who were treated at the Paediatric Dental Clinic from November 2004 to October 2014. Data collected included the year of trauma, age, sex, teeth injured, type of traumatic dental injury and treatment done. These were analyzed with the chi square test and probability values of p<0.05 applied. Results: Three hundred and nine children (5.0%) suffered dental trauma out of a total number of 6,169 children (age range 1-16years) seen within the study period. The mean age of the patients with dental trauma was 7.61±4.0 years. Dental injuries relating to the primary teeth was recorded in 104(33.7%). Those relating to the permanent teeth was 188(60.8%) and soft tissue injuries accounted for 17(5.5%). Many males 177(57.3%) were affected more than females 132(42.7%) but this was not statistically significant (P=0.086). There were two peak age incidences of trauma namely the 2-3years and 9-10years of age. The most common type of injury was enamel-dentin fractures 69(22.3%) in permanent teeth and lateral luxation 32(10.4%) in primary teeth. In the primary teeth related injury, the most commonly performed treatments were extractions and drug prescriptions each in 43(39.8%) while for permanent teeth were restorations 86(42.8%) and root canal treatment 57(28.4%). Conclusion: The clinic prevalence of traumatic dental injury in this study was relatively low, still this low percentage represents a large number of patients. Institution of standard treatment modalities and a long-term follow-up will minimize complications and improve outcome

Perception of Use of Herbal and Orthodox Medicines in Parts of Abuja: A Pilot Study.

This study assessed respondents’ perception on packaging, affordability, availability, efficacy, and safety of use of herbal and orthodox medicine in the treatment of common diseases in Abuja. Structured questionnaires were administered to elicit information from 200 residents selected from five locations through a purposive sampling method and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Orthodox medicines were rated higher than herbal medicine in term of preference, packaging, first-aid and uses. While in terms of affordability, adverse effect, natural and efficacious to the body, the respondents preferred herbal medicine. About Seventy percentage chose orthodox medicine as their first drug of choice while 28% preferred herbal medicine as their first drug of choice. 72.96% of the respondents have used herbal medicines without any side effect while 10.77% had experienced adverse effects from its use and 16.33% claimed they have never used herbal medicines for treatment before. The differences in the means of attributes of herbal and orthodox medicines were not statistically significant at P>0.05. The information obtained is in agreement with WHO statement that over 80% of the world’s population depends on traditional medicine for its primary health care.

A Filipino with systemic lupus erythematosus-scleroderma overlap syndrome

BACKGROUND: Overlap syndrome is a large group of condition that manifests with symptoms from two or more autoimmune conditions and satisfies the diagnostic criteria of at least two connective tissue diseases in the same patient. This condition might be unrecognized by the primary care physician and underreported.CASE: A 30-year-old female had a 10-week history of non-pruritic erythematous macules on her face that gradually spread to her trunk, and upper extremities which progressed to hyperpigmented macules and tightening of the skin. There was note of hair loss, anemia, ulcerating wounds on distal extremities and finger tips. She then developed generalized body weakness and easy fatigability. Physical and laboratory examinations were consistent with SLE and scleroderma. 2D-echocardiogram showed a large pericardial effusion and pulmonary hypertension. She was treated with prednisone and azathioprine which in less than a week, diminished significantly the pericardial effusion. Patient also complained of a few day history of unilateral blurring of vision which turned out to be central retinal artery occlusion.CONCLUSION: Overlap syndrome is a disease entity to consider in patients with multiple symptoms that cannot be classified into one connective tissue disease. Treatment of this disease should be individualized and based on the connective tissue diseases involved.

Prevalence of Malaria in Pregnant Women in Lagos, South-West Nigeria

Prevalence rates reported for malaria in pregnancy in Nigeria vary considerably. The accuracy of results of malaria diagnosis is dependent on training, experience, and motivation of the microscopist as well as the laboratory facility available. Results of training programmes on malaria microscopy have shown low levels of sensitivity and specificity of those involved in malaria diagnosis routinely and for research. This study was done to ascertain the true prevalence of malaria in pregnancy in Lagos, South-West Nigeria. A total of 1,084 pregnant women were recruited into this study. Blood smears stained with Giemsa were used for malaria diagnosis by light microscopy. Malaria infection during pregnancy presents mostly as asymptomatic infection. The prevalence of malaria in this population was 7.7% (95% confidence interval; 6.2-9.4%). Factors identified to increase the risk of malaria infection include young maternal age (< 20 years), and gravidity (primigravida). In conclusion, this study exposes the over-diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy and the need for training and retraining of laboratory staffs as well as establishing the malaria diagnosis quality assurance programme to ensure the accuracy of malaria microscopy results at all levels.

Ruptured splenic abscess presenting as pneumoperitoneum.

Spontaneous pneumoperitoneum follows perforation of hollow viscus; rarely, it may arise from pulmonary interstitial emphysema or intestinal inflammatory disease. We report a 30-year-old man with ruptured splenic abscess who presented with acute abdomen and had pneumoperitoneum. He was treated with splenectomy and is asymptomatic 2 months later.