ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate symptoms that are associated with teething as reported by caretakers and the related measures undertaken to relieve it. To study the relationship between caretaker, child-related factors and the reported teething symptoms. To correlate reported teething symptoms with clinical findings during the teething period. Materials and methods: The current study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among Saudi caretakers of children aged 6-36 months of age, following the survey, each child was clinically examined as well. The following survey was carried out at Mahala Maternal and child health Hospital, Abha city. A convenience sampling method was adopted for collecting the data. A total of 300 caretakers along with their children were approached who agreed to be part of the study. All the caretakers were asked to fill a structured-questionnaire, the questionnaire was asked to be completed using a face-to-face interview along with children’s guardians and it was further followed by the clinical examination of the child. Conclusion: The present study showed that most caretakers reported their children to suffer from both local oral disturbances (gum rubbing 41% followed by redness and swelling 20%) and systemic manifestations (increased biting, drooling, fever, diarrhoea, and loss of appetite) during their teething period.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental erosion in 12-15-year-old schoolchildren and to compare prevalence between public and private school boys. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 1000, 12-15-year-old school boys in Abha, Saudi Arabia. Dental erosion index proposed by O‘Sullivan was used for the four maxillary incisors. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, location, distribution, and extension of affected area and severity of dental erosion. The prevalence of dental erosion was 25.60% with no significant difference between private and public school students. Matt appearance of the enamel was the most prevalent type of dental erosion (63.63%). In most of the involved cases, more than half of their surfaces were diagnosed as affected by erosion (78.49%). Labial surfaces were the most affected (80.90%), while incisal surfaces were least affected (0.22%). Thus it can be concluded that dental erosion among Saudi school boys is becoming a significant problem, hence it is essential to provide adequate preventive care, and healthier dietary habits campaign for Saudi children.