Chronic occupational exposure to lead and its impact on oral health

Chronic Lead exposure favours the formation of cheilitis, fissures, ulcers and epithelial desquamation of the tongue, palate and other parts of the oral mucous membranes. The tissues of oral cavity may be affected by toxic agents either by direct action as in exposure to sulfuric acid fumes or through systemic exposure as in poisoning with heavy metals e.g. lead.. The Present study aimed to investigate the oral health condition of industrial workers exposed to lead in Alexandria governorate. The samples included all workers chronically exposed to lead fumes or dust in a storage battery plant [400 workers] and working in seven departments where lead exposure was present. These departments were evaluated environmentally for lead in air and their workers for lead in blood. Oral medical examinations were carried out according to the items of WHO sheet designed for oral health survey with some modifications. Results of the present study revealed that chronic exposure to lead significantly affects oral health condition among exposed workers and strongly correlates with increasing level of blood lead among them. It can be concluded that the most common adverse effects of lead on dental health of exposed workers were the significant increase in the prevalence of periodontal diseases [gingivitis and periodontitis expressed as PI] and in the prevalence of decay [caries], missed and filled teeth [expressed as DMFT index] and dental abrasions. Moreover, these findings were found to be related to lead concentration in air in the studied departments and to blood lead level. On the other hand, exposure to lead was found to have insignificant effect on calculus formation [expressed as CI-S] or oral debris [expressed as [DI-S]or both together expressed as [OHI-S]

Multivariate analysis for the role of dietary factors in dental caries occurrence

The study group was formed of all students [189] enrolled in King Mariute governomental school. In this paper two different ways of applying multivariate statistical analysis in public health field were introduced, where, stepwise Multiple Regression analysis and Discriminant analysis were used to determine the role of the dietary factors in dental caries occurrence. Results of the study showed that the diet of the students, was deficient in total caloric intake, protein and most nutrients. Studying the separate effects of each variables by applying simple regression analysis demonstrated that, length of stay, oral hygiene, total caloric intake, total protein and total fat had significant effect on teeth decay [p<0.05]. The stepwise multiple regression technique was applied to determine the relationship between the dependent criterion variable [number of decayed teeth] and a set of independent predictor variables. Four factors [oral hygiene, length of stay in King Mariute, sucrose consumption and sex] were significantly contributed to explain 25.83% of variation in number of decayed teeth. Discriminant analysis, on other hand, determined the relative importance of a collection of discriminating variables that measure the characteristics on which the group are expected to differ. The following, variables: age, sex, animal protein, total protein, oral hygiene, total fat, calcium, vit.c, total calories and sucrose have been shown to be the most important factors on discriminating the two groups [group 0: have no decay, and group 1: have decay]. Also the classification routine was able to identify 75% of students and check their group

Maximum utilization of the life table method in analyzing laryngeal cancer survival

The present study aimed at employing the actuarial life table survival technique to investigate the life expectance of cancer larynx patients with analysis of certain parameters that may affect the survival. Information were collected from the records of 378 patients presenting with malignant neoplasms of larynx and treated at the Radiotherapy Department in Alexandria University Hospital. Part of the follow-up was done retrospectively using the patient record and partly prospectively through home visits interviews. Cancer larynx patients were expected to survive a 5-year with a rate of 45.l2% and its standard error was 2.96%. When computing the confidence limits the true 5-year survival rate for the population lies between 39.32% and 50.92%. Description of the survival experience of specified subgroups was done by computing the survival rates and its standard error by site, clinical stage and type of treatment. Significantly higher survival rates of glottic cancer cases in comparison to sub and supraglottic tumour cases was found. On comparing the rates by clinical stage, the survival rates of stage II were significantly higher than of stage III since the fourth year of observation, while no significant difference between cases treated by radiation and those treated by combined therapy was found