Knowledge and attitude of parents toward child dental visits in a rural setting in Nigeria.

Introduction: The study determined the proportion of rural parents with good knowledge about and good attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday. It also assessed the association among age, sex, level of education, past dental visits of parents, and knowledge about and good attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that collected data from 115 parents in a rural setting using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data on age, sex, level of education, past dental visits, knowledge about, and attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday were collected from one of the parents of children aged 16 years and below. Socio-demographic factors associated with knowledge about and attitude to a child's dental visit were considered significant at the level of P < 0.05 using the Chi-square test. Logistic regression was conducted to determine the predictor of good knowledge. Results: The age of the study participants ranged from 15 years to 63 years with a mean of 40 ± 15.51 years. Only 25 (21.7%) parents had visited the dentist. More females 31 (40.3%) than males 6 (15.8%) significantly (P = 0.008) had good knowledge of child dental visits while more males 12 (31.6%) than females 6 (7.8%) (P = 0.001) and a greater percentage of those with past dental visits 8 (32.0%) had significantly (P = 0.02) good attitude to child dental visit. Conclusion: More mothers had good knowledge of child dental visits, while more fathers and those with past dental visits had a good attitude toward child dental visits.

The care of traumatic dental injuries in primary schools in Southern Nigeria.

AIM: To assess the standards of care given to children who sustain traumatic dental injuries (TDI) in Nigerian primary schools. STUDY DESIGN: cross-sectional study. Public and private schools were selected from the Southern geopolitical zones in Nigeria. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on the presence or absence of a school clinic, trained nurse, records and first aid box from the head teachers. The record of past traumatic dental injury, cause of the injury and treatment measures were also obtained. STATISTICS: the information obtained were analysed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: There were 90 private and 90 public primary schools; 61 (34.1%) schools had school clinics. Forty-two (23.9%) of the schools had school nurses (7 public and 35 private schools), and 27 (64.3%) of them had been trained to treat dental emergencies. Only 14 (7.8%) of the schools had records of dental injuries, and luxation injuries (31.6%) was the commonest injury. Children who sustained injuries in the school premises were sent home in 59 (38.7%) schools, while 36 (22.5%) and 37 (23.1%) schools were referred to physicians and dentists, respectively. CONCLUSION: Many schools do not have school clinics/sick bays or are poorly equipped to handle dental emergencies. Sending children home or to health centres without first aid could affect the prognosis of dental injuries, since timely intervention is of utmost importance for a successful outcome.

THE PATTERN OF DENTAL CARIES IN CHILDREN IN PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA.

BACK GROUND: Dental caries is a preventable oral disease in children and its prevention can only be effective when the pattern is known. There is paucity of this information in South - South Nigeria. AIM & OBJECTIVES: To describe the pattern of dental caries in Nigerian children in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. DESIGN OF THE STUDY: A Retrospective study. SETTING: Paediatric Dental clinic, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The dental records of 334 patients that attended the dental clinic in 2013 were reviewed for the following information: socio demography, oral hygiene practices, dietary habits and presence and pattern of dental caries. RESULTS: One hundred and forty two (42.5%) children had dental caries during the study period. They consisted of 65 (45.8%) males and 77 (54.2%) females with a mean age of 9.14 (+ 3.94) years and a range of 1to16years. Majority (78.5%) cleaned their teeth once a day and 83.3% of the children below seven years of age cleaned their teeth by themselves. All the children ingested refined carbohydrates in varying frequencies. The 5 to 9 year age cohort was 43% of those who had dental caries. Most of the carious lesions were located on the occlusal surfaces (61.2%) while the least sites (1.2%) were the lingual surfaces in both dentitions. The carious lesions were more in the posterior teeth of the lower jaw. There were no anterior teeth affected in the permanent dentition. There was an association between the age and the severity of caries (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The occlusal surface was the commonest occurrence site of the dental caries, therefore the children at risk of developing caries will benefit more from dental sealants placement.

THE STANDARD OF PLAYGROUNDS AND SAFETY MEASURES IN PREVENTION OF TRAUMATIC DENTAL INJURIES IN NIGERIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

BACKGROUND: Playgrounds provide a recreational refuge for children and play a role in the development of their cognitive, psychosocial, and physical coordination skills. Unfortunately, it may also be a source of traumatic dental injuries (TDI). AIM: To assess the standards of playgrounds in primary schools in Southern Nigeria. SETTING: Selected public and private primary schools in Lagos (Southwest), Enugu (Southeast) and Rivers (Southsouth) states of Nigeria. MATERIALS & METHODS: Multi-stage sampling was used to select 180 schools (30 private and 30 public schools in each state) spread across the 3 study states of Lagos, Enugu and Rivers of Nigeria. A structured questionnaire which was interview administered was used to obtain information from the head teachers of 180 selected schools in Southern geo-political zones of Nigeria. The presence or absence of playgrounds & play equipment; quality of playgrounds and equipment; and supervision of the pupils during play were assessed. Statistical comparison of public and private schools, as well as comparison between the three geopolitical zones was by chi square statistics and one way ANOVA respectively. RESULTS: Playgrounds were present in 147(81.7%) schools; 83 (56.5%) and 64 (43.5%) were public and private schools respectively. Ninety three (51.7%) schools had teachers or minders at the play grounds during recreation. Most of the public schools had no minders. Majority (69.7%) of the playgrounds surfaces were bare earth. Ninety three (55.4%) schools had play equipment with about 7.5% of them padded. The maintenance of the play equipment was not regular in 54.3% of the schools. The impact absorbing surfaces under the play equipment were majorly (66.6%) pits filled with sand in the three zones while rubber matting was found only in 7.7% of schools which were exclusively in the Southwestern zone of the country. CONCLUSION: Most of the schools had playgrounds but inadequate consideration was given to safety measures in terms of playground size, surfaces, equipment type, height and supervisions by teachers. We therefore recommended that playgrounds should be standardized in Nigerian primary schools and more awareness about the occurrence and prevention of TDI during recreation should be created in schools.

Endemic mansonellosis in Emohua local government area, Nigeria: human parasitaemia and Culicoides biting patterns.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The study was aimed at elucidating the prevalence and intensity of Mansonella perstans microfilaraemia in the Emohua Local Government Area, Nigeria, and ascertaining the abundance, circadian, and the annual biting patterns of the Culicoides vector. METHODS: Thick smear of 50 µl finger-prick blood stained with Giemsa was examined microscopically in a cross-sectional study. Vector landing collection on human bait was employed in a longitudinal study of the vector biting patterns, carried out between July 2005 and August 2006. RESULTS: Of 1486 individuals examined, 11.2% of both males and females were positive for M. perstans microfilaraemia. Microfilaraemia appeared early in life. The overall geometric mean intensity among those with positive microfilaraemia was 117 mf/ml (121 mf/ml for males and 113 mf/ml for females). The differences in geometric mean intensity between different age groups were statistically significant (one-way analysis of variance; p <0.05), being highest in the oldest age group (266 mf/ml). A total of 1183 female Culicoides sp were caught from September 2005 to August 2006. The abundance of Culicoides sp was seasonal. The circadian biting activity had a broad peak between 0700 and 1200 hrs. The monthly biting rates ranged from zero bite per person per month in January 2006 to 1151 bites per person per month in June 2006. The annual biting rate was 7382 bites per person per year. CONCLUSION: Majority of those with positive microfilaraemia were poor socioeconomically, underscoring the need for health education and application of effective control measures against Culicoides biting midges in Emohua.

Efficacy of local herbal therapy in the management of dermatophytosis among primary school children in Cross River State, South-south Nigeria.

As a contribution to the on-going search for alternative, available and affordable treatment of common infections in Sub-saharan Africa, the efficacy of local herbs, Senna alata(Linn) and Borreria ocymoides (Burm), in comparison with conventional drugs, griseofulvin and clotrimazole in the treatment of dermatophytosis among primary school children, was examined in the three districts of Cross River State, South-South Nigeria. Out of 840 pupils screened, 68 (8.1%) were infected, with incidence ranging from 11 (1.3%) in the southern to 33 (3.9%) in the northern districts, indicating a widespread of the infection. Specimens taken from the infected pupils and analyzed for the causative agents, showed that Trichophyton tonsurans 29 (20.4%) followed by Microsporum soudanense 24 (16.9%) was most frequent. The greater sensitivity of the isolated dermatophytes to the local plants than the chemotherapeutic drugs (control) offers some hope of treatment and control. The antifungal activity of the plants was associated with their very high levels of chemical components, saponins, anthraquinones and flavonoids. We recommend further studies on the chemical properties and safety of the plants before total dependence on them for treatment.