[Waste management from dental care in the health districts of Dakar, Senegal]. / Gestion des déchets issus des soins bucco-dentaires au niveau des districts sanitaires de Dakar au Sénégal.

Management of medical waste is becoming an increasing public health concerns, especially as these waste treatment methods can themselves create both health and environmental risks. The objective of the study was to evaluate the management of waste from dental care in Dakar. A cross-sectional, descriptive study of dental services in Dakar, based on a questionnaire was used to determine the knowledge and attitudes of dentists on the management of dental waste. All practitioners stated that their offices had waste bins, 81.2% using plastic bags; 73.2% reported that the bins were washed and disinfected an average of once a day. Only 7.2% of the offices or facilities had an autoclave, and 5.8% an incinerator. Three quarters of the respondents did not know how to dispose of contaminated waste and none of them had conducted a study to estimate the quantity of their departmental waste. The management of waste from dental care is not structured in Senegal nor in most developing countries. Moreover, the gaps and ineffectiveness of legislation result in major threats to public health and the environment. The government should focus, among other things, on stakeholder awareness and training, by providing facilities with the resources necessary to contribute to sustainable development through the management of dental waste.

[Oral benefits for the elderly: results of a one-year implementation of the "Sesame" plan in Senegal]. / Prestations bucco-dentaires chez les personnes âgées: bilan d'une année d'application du plan "Sésame" au Sénégal.

Among the 650,000 persons aged 60 and over in Senegal, only 30% were receiving social security coverage, divided between the Senegalese Retirement Providence Institute and the National Retirement Fund. To fill the social demand, the government has put in place since 1 September 2006 a plan called "Sesame" which gives people aged 60 and older, free access to certain health services provided in public health. The implementation of this plan creates a lot of comments in the health community. The objectives of this study were to describe the dental benefits offered and to identify the difficulties perceived and experienced by the service provider after one year the "sesame" plan was implemented in Ouakam Health Center dental office, benchmark place of Gerontology in the Dakar North health district in Senegal. The study included two components: quantitative and qualitative terms, respectively, consisting of a retrospective study from sheets review and an interview with the health center service provider. The beneficiaries were a total of 42, mean age 68 years, including 66.7% men. Just over a third (35.7%) resided outside Ouakam. Almost 4/5 of the beneficiaries have suffered dental extractions on 1 to 10 teeth per beneficiary. The proportions of people receiving dentine treatment and curetage were respectively 4.8% and 2.4%. Qualitative data showed that the implementation of the plan was not shared between providers and beneficiaries. The "Sesame" plan is a commendable initiative to encourage and improve.