ABSTRACT
These two case reports highlight the enormous clinical difficulties faced by dentists in providing satisfactory long-term dental care to patients who suffer from Epidermolysis bullosa. Problems of bullae formation in oral soft tissues and subsequent scarring are outlined in relation to the difficulty of maintaining satisfactory oral hygiene and a diet leading to minimal dental caries experience. The behavioural problems of maintaining patient compliance for preventive and restorative dentistry in this painful and debilitating disease are illustrated in these case reports. Difficulties in providing restorative care, either under local anaesthesia or general anaesthesia are discussed, and a novel replacement of non-viable carious anterior teeth using a nine-unit porcelain fused to metal Rochette type bridge is presented. Dental management of patients with Epidermolysis bullosa should commence at birth, and non-compliance in dental attendances should be followed up by social workers to prevent the disastrous oral morbidity that frequently occurs in such patients.
Subject(s)
Dental Care for Chronically Ill , Epidermolysis Bullosa Dystrophica/complications , Adult , Child , Dental Caries/etiology , Dental Prophylaxis , Denture, Partial, Fixed, Resin-Bonded , Follow-Up Studies , Genes, Recessive , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
This report describes the use of theatre as a strategy for school dental health education. A play with messages relating to dental disease and its prevention was staged by school dental personnel for middle level primary schoolchildren. Feedback from the school staff indicated that the performance was well received and understood by the majority of the pupils. School dental personnel found that the awareness of dental disease and its prevention among their patients was generally more positive after the play. It thus appears that theatre is a useful medium for dental health education of young people.
