Oral health behaviour and dental caries in the Jordanian Joint Special Operations personnel

The Objective was to assess the dental caries experience and oral health related behaviour among Joint Special Operations personnel in Amman- Jordan. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to collect sociodemographic data, oral hygiene habits, related behaviour and their past utilization of dental services among Joint Special Operations personnel in Amman- Jordan. A total of 349 subjects aged between 18- 50 years [mean=30.4] were examined in this study. All subjects who participated in this study were military men. The prevalence of dental caries was high [83.1%] while the DMFT ranged from 0 to 32 [mean 8.69; SD +/- 5.49]. 65.5% of the participants claimed that they brushed their teeth once a day and 60% twice daily. Only 22. 9% [n= 80] of the participants were regular attendees, 59.3% of the participants were smokers. 71.4% of participants had calculus at age of 35-39 years, while 52.3% calculus was seen in 25-29 years old. Bleeding on probing was observed in 21-24 years old [51.1%] as well as among 18-20 years old [44.2%]. However, there was statistically a significant difference between dental caries and periodontal indexes as 49% had dental caries and. score 2 periodontal indexes, while 25.4% were caries free and showed normal periodontal condition, however, participant who had score 3 periodontal index's 10.3% got caries. The present study found that military personnel had a relatively high rate of dental caries are oral hygiene and oral health was poor. Proper diagnosis and treatment should be done before deployment as well as through preventive care measures

Effect of maternal and early childhood illness on molar incisor hypomineralisation

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the medical status of the mother and the child during the period of first molar- incisor formation and development of hypomineralisation of these teeth. The mothers of all patients who attended the pediatric dentistry department of Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein Hospital from April 2008 to January 2009 and who were diagnosed to have molar- incisor hypomineralisation [MIH] were asked to fill a questionnaire about the medical status of themselves or that of their children postnatal. The sample consists of50 mothers and their 50 children, 32 females and 18 males between the ages of 7 and 13 years. The questionnaire composed of questions about prenatal, perinataly and postnatal illness. 18 [36%] of the mothers were suffering from medical problems prenatal and 6 [12%] had perinatal illness, 30 [60%] children have been subjected to disease postnatal, and 26 [52%] of the mothers and 20 [40%] of the children did not suffer from any medical problem. Several etiological factors can cause enamel defects and their occurrence may be related to prenatal or postnatal illnesses. It was found that there was a relationship between children with repeated illnesses in the first year of their life and prevalence of hypomineralisation defects on molars and incisors