Prevalence of fluorosis among children aged 12 years, living in urban and peri-urban areas of Quetta district, Balochistan

Fluorosis is a condition of structural disorder of the tooth surface during tooth development, which is denoted as enamel hypoplasia. The most common cause of dental fluorosis is the chronic exposure to excessive fluoride particularly in drinking water at the younger age. The aims of this study were to determine prevalence of fluorosis among primary school children in urban and peri-urban areas of Quetta district. Cross sectional study. This study was conducted at Bolan Medical College, Quetta for a period of one month from March to April 2009. Clinical dental examination of school children aged 12 years was conducted for evidence of dental fluorosis using Dean's fluorosis index and the criteria mentioned in WHO oral health surveys methods 4[th] edition 1997. A total of 153 school children aged 12 years,78 [51%] boys and 75 [49%] girls, who have lived in urban and rural areas of Quetta sub district, were randomly selected from the four schools including boys and girls both. Fluorosis was found to be more prevalent in urban school children [60%] as compared with children living in peri-urban areas [47%] with OR .614 [.323, 1.166] and p-value .135. The boys had a slightly higher prevalence of fluorosis as compared with girls 56% and 52% respectively. OR .837 [.443, 1.582] and p-value .584 recorded which were not statically significant. This study highlighted the high prevalence of fluorosis, more than half of the school children, in urban and rural areas of Quetta district Pakistan. Comparatively, fluorosis is more prevalent in urban areas than in rural

Dental caries status among children aged 12-14 years in urban and rural areas of Lasbella district, Balochistan

To assess the dental caries status among 12 to 14 years old children in urban and rural schools. A cross sectional was done. The study was carried out at Lasbella District of Balochistan in October 2010. The duration of study was one month. The study was conducted in one urban and one rural school. The study population was consist of 108 students aged 12-14 year. The DMFT score was recorded on WHO recommended forms for dental caries status. The study period was one month and was conducted in one urban and two rural schools of Lasbella district. The study population consisted of 108 students and out of them 55.6% belonged to rural school and 44.4% belong to urban school. The mean DMFT of rural was higher 2.63 +/- 2.44 as compared to the urban population 2.08 +/- 2. DMFT was highest at the age of 13 years 2.55 +/- 2.17. Males had a higher mean of DMFT 2.46 +/- 2.17 as compared to females 2.32 +/- 2.44. Although there were no significant differences of means of DMFT by age, sex and location of school. Out of the total urban students 39.6% of school children were caries free as compared to 20% of students in the rural population. Our study highlighted the extent of dental disease in urban and rural areas of district Lasbella. There is need and high demand for dental services and awareness raising programs in these areas

Percentage of inflammatory cells in recurrent aphthous stomatitis in dental out patient department, Sheikh Zayed federal postgraduate medical Institute, Lahore

The objective of the study was to investigate the stages of recurrent aphthous stomatitis through cytological examination of the lesion which helps in diagnosis and treatment strategies. The study was carried out in Sheikh Zayed Federal Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore. It was a Cross sectional Study and was completed within six months. Sixty patients of RAS and 60 controls were recruited to the study. There were 4 subjects having 75% of neutrophils in their smears, while 38 subjects of RAS had 40% of neutrophils and 18 were those who had 50% of these cells in their smear. Forty persent monocytes were present in 46 subjects; remaining 16 subjects had 50% of monocytes in the lesion. Lymphocytes were seen in 40% [53] subjects having the lesions of RAS while only 7 subjects showed the presence of 50% in their lesions. Through cytological examination of the smears of RAS it was concluded that there was increased number of neutrophil cells accumulation in the early [pre-monitory and pre-ulcerative] stages of RAS population

Prevalence of dental caries among 12-year old school children in Quetta, Balochistan

To assess the prevalence of dental caries among 12 years-old school children. Cross sectional study. Quetta tehsil and study was conducted in March 2003. A total of 153 children name were randomly selected from 4 large public schools in both urban and rural areas and children who were absent at the day of clinical examination were excluded. Caries status was assessed by using WHO criteria [1997]. The results of this study showed that a total of 153 schoolchildren in tehsil [sub district] Quetta, Balochistan were examined. Of those children, 78 [51.0%] were boys and 75[49.0%] were girls. The results of this study showed that dental caries in this age group is very high in this area [81.0% with the mean DMFT=1.38]. More than half of them [52.9%] had one carious tooth and about 2.7% has more than four carious teeth. This study showed that boys had 1 .206[95%CI=1.030. 1.413] times more likely to experience dental caries than girls and the lower first molars were mostly affected by caries. High prevalence of caries and the dental prevention covers school children is still inadequate. Fissure sealant program should be launched to prevent caries in this age group. Further information needed for evaluating dental prevention measures and the success with which they have been targeted at high-risk groups in public school dental service in Quetta, Pakistan