Prevalence of preschool caries among 6-year-old school children from different socioeconomic backgrounds in Amman, Jordan

The objectives of the present study were to describe the dental health status among 6-year-old schoolchildren in Amman, Jordan, and to investigate the association between selected sociodemographic, oral health behaviour and attitude variables and the presence of dental caries. A cross-sectional sample of 838 [Male = 436, Female - 402] children were examined in primary schools; the prevalence and severity of dental caries were measured using World Health Organization criteria. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used. Sociodemographic factors and oral health behaviours and attitudes were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire. The prevalence of dental caries in the primary dentition was 41.6%. The mean number of decayed, missing and filled teeth [dmft] was 2.59 [SD=2.67]. The decayed component [d] constituted 67% of the total number of decayed, missing [19%] and filled teeth [14%]. The chi-square association test demonstrated that the variables: mother education and employment, type of dental care, type of school, tooth brushing, presence of dental plaque and family size were statistically significant in relation to the presence or absence of dental caries [P<0.05]. However, there was no significant difference between caries prevalence of children who attended private and public schools and those who had never been to a dentist. The caries experience was lower in females [dmft=2.51] than in males [dmft=2.68], but the difference was not statistically significant [P>0.05]. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the number of children who had dental plaque on their teeth and others who did not [P>0.05]. The present study showed that dental caries level was higher than that of children in industrialized countries and lower than that in children of the Middle Eastern Arab countries. However, the early caries development seen in children from the lower socio-econo mic classes reinforces the need for preventive programs. Dental caries can be largely prevented or controlled in its early stages of development by simple and relatively cheap methods of personal care, involving attention to general nutrition, diet and oral hygiene. Dental care information and oral hygiene instructions should be given as early as possible to the expectant mothers at prenatal counselling. Access to dental care must be improved to enable any preventive care to be implemented

arabic version of the modified dental anxiety scale. psychometrics and normative data for 15-16 year olds

To prepare an Arabic version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale [MDAS] and provide normative information including evidence to support the validity of the measure. The MDAS was translated into Arabic and back-translated into English. Data collection took place in Amman, Jordan from March 2009 to March 2010. One thousand and six hundred two 10th grade students took part in the study [15-16 years of age] sampled from 32 schools. Questionnaire consisted not only of the MDAS, but also [i] a single global question on dental anxiety to test concurrent validity, [ii] a question on helplessness in the dental surgery to test construct validity and [iii] demographic profile. The level of missing data was minimal for the translated scale. The internal consistency for this sample using the Arabic MDAS was 0.87 [95% confidence interval was 0.86-0.88]. The measure was a one-dimensional scale. The proportion of the sample that was highly dentally anxious was 22% [>/= 19 cut-off score]. Expected differences between gender and self-reported dental attendance were observed. There were clear significant relationships as predicted between the Arabic MDAS and [i] a single item measure of dental anxiety and [ii] feeling helpless in the dental chair on a previous occasion. The Arabic version of the MDAS can be employed for brief assessment of dental anxiety

Dental fears among the students of university of Jordan

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of dental anxiety and/or dental phobia. Also, the study has tried to identify the psychological etiology of dental anxiety as perceived by Jordanian students Methodology: The study population consisted of 425 students from.Jordan University who participated in this study [121 males and 304 females] mean age 22 years. The participants were selected from six different colleges excluding dental college. To fulfill the purpose of this study data were collected using the Arabic version of Dental Anxiety Inventory [DAI], which was developed originally, by Marlies and colleagues [5]. The authors added two open questions related to etiology and visiting dentists The results provide evidence that the Arabic Version of DA has good reliability and validity. The results of the study revealed that half the study group did not suffer from dental anxiety [49.17%] while 27.5% students suffered mild dental anxiety. 20.9% students suffered moderate DA and only 2.3% suffered severe dental phobia. Dental anxiety found to be more prevalence and severe among females than males P<.00 1. Also, results indicated that 44% of the students attributed the cause of dental anxiety to aversive experiences during childhood [dental care associated with pain] 15% of students developed the symptoms through negative experiences by one of the parents or older siblings.This study showed that the prevalence and severity of dental anxiety are higher than the previous studies found. The study addresses some recommendations in order to prevent and manage dental anxiety and phobia. Dental anxiety [DA] is a common and distressing problem among individuals of varying ages and sexes. It was found that dental anxiety has negative impact on the dentist-patient relationship. Phobic patients avoid dentist's visits, which leads to advanced oral pathology and eventually loss of teeth'

Intraseptal injection and pain control in mandibular restorative dental procedures in children: clinical evaluation

2887 children aged from 6 to 12 years were treated at the pediatric dentistry department at the Jordan University Hospital [JUH] for various restorative procedures including treatment of carious lesions direct pulp capping, pulpectomy, And pulpotomy using the, intraseptal injection technique for pain control. Results showed that the technique was effective in obtaining primary anaesthesia for both mandibular primary molars and mandibular first permanent molars

Effects of premature loss of abscessed primary molars on premolar eruption

This study investigated the effects of early extraction of abscessed primary molars on premolar eruption in 80 children aged from 5 to 8 years. The mean age of patients at the time of extraction of the primary molar was 7.36 years, 57.5% of patients were males and 42.5% were females. The mean time range between loss of the abscessed primary molar and eruption of the premolar was 11.4. The mean exfoliation age of the contralateral control primary molar was 10.58, the same mean was 10.01 for the first primary molar and 11.01 for the second primary molar. The mean eruption age of the contralateral control premolar was 10.78, being 10.30 for the first premolar. At the time of gingival emergence, the prematurely erupted premolars were with limited root development, mobility was beyond the physiologic range. Ectopic eruption was observed in 26.5% of cases, of which 76% have erupted buccally, whereas eruption in the mesiodistal direction was noted in the remaining 24%. 75% of the prematurely erupted premolars were out of sequence. Enamel hypocalcified areas on the crown of the prematurely erupted premolars were observed in 11.3% of cases