Fluoride content of commercial drinking water and carbonated soft drinks available in Southeastern Nigeria: dental and public health implications.

OBJECTIVE AND AIM: The importance of fluoride in preventing dental diseases cannot be overemphasized. The aim of this study was to determine the fluoride content of commercial bottled water, sachet water and carbonated soft drinks available in Southeastern-Nigeria at the same time, eliciting their dental and public health implications. METHOD: Determination of fluoride level in water and carbonated drinks was carried out using Colorimetric-SPADNS (Trisodium 2-(4-sulfophenylazo)-1, 8-dihydroxynaphthalene-3, 6-disulfonate) method. This is a simple and rapid technique with high accuracy. 10 brands of bottled water, 10 brands of carbonated soft drinks and 20 brands of sachet water were studied. The experiment for each brand was carried out in duplicates and mean fluoride concentrations generated. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 17. RESULTS: Fluoride contents in mg/L of bottled water brands ranged from 0.0173 ± 0.0019 mg/L to 0.1607 ± 0.0630 mg/L [mean: 0.0442 ± 0.0184 mg/L] and that of sachet water brands was from 0.0131 ± 0.0019 mg/L to 0.1754 ± 0.1344 mg/L. Mean fluoride content of carbonated soft drinks was 0.0228 ± 0.0064 mg/L with one of the brands having as low as 0.0066 ± 0.0028 mg/L fluoride. CONCLUSION: None of the drinks investigated contained level of fluoride up to standard admissible values suggesting sub-optimal intake. As the suitability of advice on fluoride use in preventing dental abnormalities depends on the individual's total fluoride intake from drinks and other sources, a further study is warranted to relate this total with the baseline decayed missing and filled teeth of the population.

Assessing health workers knowledge on the determinants of health: a study in Enugu Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Different social economic and personal factors have been touted as determining a person's health. This encompasses a person's living environment, economic status, genetic makeup, physical attributes and not just access to health services. It is important that health workers recognize that a person's socio-economic environment can have an adverse effect on the health status ofthe individual so as to capture this aspect in their choice of intervention. METHODS: The study was carried out in two tertiary institutions in Enugu state selected purposively because they housed a dental clinic. It was a descriptive cross sectional study consisting of 87 participants which represented all the dental taff available during the study period. The participants were interviewed with a structured questionnaire used to elicit the knowledge of health workers on health determinants. RESULTS: When individual factors were considered, a greater percentage of health workers, believed that safe drinking water (98.9%), where a person lives (96.6%) and a balanced diet, affect health more than availability of health services (59.8%) or the ability of the health care system to meet the needs of the people (55.2%). However when ranking the magnitude of the contribution of the various determinants of health the majority (37.9%) considered a good health care system the most important contributory factor to determining health of a community while social environment (14.9%) was the least. CONCLUSION: The ranking of good healthcare system over social environment points to the emphasis being laid on curative instead of preventive management of diseases, which have been entrenched in our health workers. Considerations should therefore be made for public health institutions to dwell more on health promotion and education activites on the importance of the social determinatants on health.

Fluoride contents of some Nigerian dentifrices.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the fluoride content of different brands of toothpastes and powders commercially available in Nigerian markets, to compare the claims of the manufacturers with the objectively obtained results of the analysis and to make recommendations to the Regulatory Agencies based on the results of analysis. METHOD: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were used to measure the concentration of fluoride in randomly selected samples using fluoride ion selective electrode. RESULTS: Of the twelve samples analyzed, two toothpastes were purchased at Newcastle. Ten samples (eight toothpastes and two powders) were brought over from Nigeria. Three of the twelve were found to be deficient in the quantity of fluoride contained. All the deficient three samples found wanting were from Nigeria--a thirty per cent (30%) of the Nigerian samples. CONCLUSION: The importance of fluoride in caries prevention has been well documented and appreciated as public health measure. All efforts geared towards making fluoride available to the public especially through the dentifrices should be encouraged and guarded against mercantilism and abuse. To this end, the Nigerian Dental Association and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should increase their surveillance over the quality of the products marketed.

Identification of victims of catastrophes: introduction to the role of forensic odontology.

There are many ways of identifying victims of catastrophes but in disasters where most soft tissue has been lost, the hard tissues of teeth can be used. This article describes the important role that forensic odontology can play in these cases. This role has not been recognised in most countries, particularly developing countries, where forensic odontology has been restricted to legal affairs.

Primary health care approach. Its relevance to oral health in Nigeria.

This article discusses the concept of Primary Health Care--an idea which started with the World Health Assembly agreement in 1977 to work resolutely towards the goal of Health for All. This decision was followed by the historic international conference on Primary Health Care at Alma Ata in 1978. Many countries including Nigeria, adopted the primary health care strategy to achieve health for all by the year 2000 (now 2000 and beyond). Since health needs to be seen and dealt with in a holistic manner, oral health is an integral part of health. Strategies for achieving health for all implicitly and must of necessity involve oral health. This article has tried to show the relevance of the strategy of primary health care to oral health. It concludes that primary health care approach is very relevant to oral health in Nigeria.

Gingival sulcus depth in young permanent teeth of Nigerians.

The sulcus depth of permanent teeth of young 30 children, 15 of each sex aged 12-15 years was measured. There was no significant difference between the mandibular and maxillary depth (p > 0.05). However a significant difference was observed between the depth in anterior region and that in the posterior region both in the upper and lower jaws (p < or = 0.05). The mean value for the whole mouth was observed to be 1.98 mm with a 95% confidence limit of 1.98 +/- 94.

Integrated dental education in the United Kingdom.

Investigation was carried out to find out efforts taken or being taken in the Dental Schools in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland by way of integration. Fifty percent of the changes were in clinical subjects, 50% was in the pre-clinical subjects and 37% in both clinical and pre-clinical years.