[Survey of general dental practitioners in Abidjan on the use of the operatory field in dentistry]. / Enquête auprès des omnipraticiens d'Abidjan sur l'utilisation du champ opératoire en dentisterie.

Rubber dam is a standard operatory field in operative dentistry and endodontics. It is undoubtedly the most certain way to insure the success of therapeutics acts. Its use by Abidjan practitioners has been the subject of our study which aim is to underline the place of rubber dam in daily practice. Our investigations show that rubber dam is totally absent from practitioners acts. Generally cotton rolls constitute the most frequent mean used by practitioners to isolate the tooth in operative dentistry and endodontics. Only 23.9% of them associate saliva sucking up. Some cases of aspiration and swallowing file by accident by patients have been highlighted. Those results lead us to recommend the systematic use of rubber dam as the mean of efficiency and security which cannot be ignored in our practice.

[Traditional esthetic concepts of Akan women in Ivory Coast]. / Concept traditionnel de l'esthetique chez la femme Akan en Cote d'Ivoire.

Akan is a linguistic group living in the Middle-East and South-East parts of Ivory Coast. This group has its particular esthetic concept: esthetic should produce first, a general harmony. The most beautiful young girl is a very important personality in the society. She should wear the most beautiful jewels and clothes of the family to represent the village everywhere. Akan esthetic concept concerns both physical features and moral characteristics.