Infection control practices among dental practitioners of Lahore, Pakistan

To observe adoption of infection control measures among dental practitioners. A cross-sectional study based on a convenient sampling technique was conducted. Dental Practitioners in each subdivision [towns] of the Lahore, Pakistan were approached through 15 dental hygiene students to fill a close ended structured questionnaire. Study was conducted during 1[st] March-15 March 2005. Chi square test was applied with a significance level of p<0.05. Four hundred dental practices were visited and response rate of 83.25% was obtained. 62.76% surgeries were found being run by un-qualified dental practitioners and 37.23% by qualified dentists. 94.35% qualified practitioners used gloves as compared to only 28.2% of the un-qualified practitioners and a high percentage of qualified practitioners used gloves for every patients compared to their un-qualified counter parts [85.48% and 14.35%] respectively. 97.5% qualified practitioners and 80.3% of the un-qualified dentists used face masks. 85.1% of un-qualified and 98.3% of the qualified dental practitioners used fresh set of instruments for each patient. Use of sterilization methods including disinfectants, autoclaving of instruments was higher in qualified practitioners. Infection control measures among qualified and non-qualified practitioners were statistically significant. [p= 0.000] A poor level of infection control practice was observed in dental practices run by un-qualified practitioners. Majority of qualified dentists were observing infection control measures. There is need for further education and training for all the dental practitioners

Periodontal status of women during pregnancy

Objectives: Periodontal condition of women is considered to be debilitated during pregnancy. This is suggested to increase the chances of complications during pregnancy. This study aimed at obtaining information regarding periodontal status during pregnancy, which may be necessary for planning periodontal disease preventive programs for pregnant women in our population

Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 322 registered women at department of Gynecology and Obstetric. Periodontal condition was assessed by CPITN Index and recorded in a semi-structured performa. The data was coded and entered in SPSS version 11.0 and percentage frequencies with their mean and standard deviations were calculated. Exact Chi-sqaure test was used to analyze any significant changes observed in the CPITN scores amongst the study population, where level of significance was p < 0.05 with confidence interval 95%

Results: Only 17% of these women were observed to have healthy periodontal status and 83% of women had some signs involving a mean of 3 out of six sextants with different levels of signs of periodontal disease, with only less than half sextant with periodontal pockets. However, a moderate level of periodontal debilitation was observed in this population with a mean of 3 sextants having healthy periodontal status. The present study observed a constant level of periodontal status assessed by CPITN Index (p>0.05) in women during pregnancy

Conclusion: Although CPITN scores remained constant through out pregnancy and no significant change observed in this moderate level of diseased condition. However, shallow and deep periodontal pockets, although not very severe, are observed to be more prevalent. Therefore, special preventive and prophylaxis oral health care programs remain the need for these women during pregnancy

Maternal attitudes and practices towards child dental health of 3[1/2] to 4[1/2] year old in Lahore, Pakistan

The present study is a cross-sectional survey undertaken to assess the dental health attitudes and behaviours of 95 mothers of preschool children, from middle and low socio-economic groups, in urban Lahore, using a questionnaire adapted from the one used in an international collaborative study on child dental health. The results fail to achieve significance for the frequency of sugar consumption, consumption of sweetened milk, Toothache experience, history of dental visits and the choice of professional in case of dental problem, quantity of toothpaste used for the child and dental health beliefs of the mothers