Monitoring of the bed time body temperature and body weight to prevent the occurrence of heat stroke in the Royal Thai Army recruits, Lopburi Province, Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: Heat stroke is still an important health problem in Thai army recruits. The authors aimed to evaluate a new method for preventing heat stroke in the newly army recruits during basic training in May-June 2006, by monitoring the bed time body temperature and body weight. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One thousand one hundred and fifteen recruits from five army units in Lopburi Province, Thailand were enrolled in the present study. Standardized questionnaire was used for data collection including unit information, personal information, environmental information and daily activity information. Bed time body temperature and body weight were recorded daily. Anyone who had a body temperature > 37.8 degrees C or body weight lossing > 10% in 24 h had to stop training until these indicators were normal. RESULTS: There was no incidence of heat stroke in these army units during this training period. There were 191 recruits who had a body temperature > 37.8 degrees C. The mean duration of the fever was 3.3 +/- 3.3 days. The incidence of fever was 21.4 per 100 persons-month. There were 30 recruits with the body weight lossing > 10%. The duration of body weight loss was one day. Analyzed by mixed model using STATA program, there was statistically significant difference of the body temperature (p < 0.001) but not the body weight (p = 0.644) among the period of time. CONCLUSION: This monitoring of the bed time body temperature and body weight seems to be effective for the prevention of the occurrence of heat stroke because there was no case of heat stroke in the present study. However, further large-scale study with a control group should be performed.

Oral health status, dental caries risk factors of the children of public kindergarten and schools in Phranakornsriayudhya, Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Dental caries remains a public health problem even though it is preventable. There are several risk factors that relate to dental caries, especially in children in suburban and rural areas, where they normally receive their first dental examination in primary schools by teachers or health care personnel. Their oral health depends primarily on their parents' awareness. OBJECTIVE: To identify prevalence and severity of dental caries and their risk factors among children in public education centers in Phranakornsriayudhya, Thailand. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A cross-sectional total study was conducted among children attending public education centers in Koh-Rean Subdistrict, Phranakornsriayudhya District, Phranakornsriayudhya Province, Thailand including a day care center, 2 kindergartens and 2 elementary schools, during the academic year of 2005. All children were invited to attend a dental health survey including general oral examination and a face to face interview for the participants' parents as well as children attending grade 1-6. Standardized questionnaires were used to identify the participants' oral health care behaviors. RESULTS: There were 157 (99.4%) from 158 children aged 2-12 years participated in the survey, 152 (96.8%) students had dental caries. The prevalence of dental caries among pre-school children was 95.4%. The overall average Decay Missing Filling for primary teeth (dmft) was 7.4 (+/- 4.6) and the overall average Decay Missing Filling for permanent teeth (DMFT) was 3.7 (+/- 1.8). The dmft among pre-school children was 9.1 (+/- 5.2). The prevalence of gingivitis was 95.5%. The independence risk factors for dental caries for primary teeth were brushing under supervision of teacher when compared with the parents (Odds ratio = 12.1 (95% CI, 2.6-55.4)), and not brushing after breakfast (Odds ratio = 3.7 (95% CI, 1.1-12.1). There were no significant risk factors of dental caries for permanent teeth. CONCLUSION: A relatively high prevalence of dental caries was observed among children in suburban area in Thailand, especially in early childhood. It was shown that having the parents supervising their tooth brushing and having tooth brushing after breakfast may protect the dental caries for primary teeth. The public health interventions among this population are therefore urgently needed.

Oral health survey of military personnel in the Phramongkutklao Hospital, Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate chief complaints, the prevalence of the oral diseases and the treatments needed in military personnel in comparison to the civilians. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The dental records of new patients at Phramongkutklao Hospital from January to December 2003 were reviewed. The retrieved information included demographic status, chief complaint, diagnosis and the treatment needed. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the data. Univariate analysis was used to obtain the odds ratios and 95% CI for the independent association between factors (age, status), chief complaint, diagnosis and treatment needed. RESULTS: A total of 4,662 consecutive dental records were evaluated during the study period, in which, 69.7% persons were civilians, and 30.3% persons were military personnel which included; commissioned officers (COs) 23.6%, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) 15.3%, conscripts 44.8%, and retired officers 16.3%. The military personnel had higher rates of toothache (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.08-1.47), and gum swelling (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.07-1.84) than the civilians. Military personnel showed increased risk of having pulp and periapical diseases (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.05-1.44), and fracture teeth (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.04-1.97) more than those observed in the civilians. Only 1.2% of the active duty military personnel required no dental treatment. It was found that the military personnel had significantly higher treatment needs than the civilians in all categories except for removal of impacted teeth. The conscripts had the highest needs for dental treatments. CONCLUSION: This survey showed that the military personnel, especially the conscripts had a relatively high prevalence for oral diseases. In order to make their oral conditions fit for deployment, the predicted treatment times and resources used were estimated to be convincingly high.