Nneka Kate Onyejaka

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a disease of global public health significance and a source of concern, especially in resource-poor countries like Nigeria.

Objective: To evaluate the pattern of traumatic dental injuries (TDI) among Nigerian children. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional prospective study in which data were collected from 66 children aged 1 to 16 years who presented at the two tertiary dental centres. Data on age, sex, cause and place of trauma, time of presentation and reason for delay in presentation to the dental clinic, involved tooth, and radiographic findings were collected from July 2021 to May 2023 using a questionnaire. Garcia-Godoy’s classification was used to record the type of TDI. Chi-square test was conducted and factors associated with immediate presentation were considered significant when p < 0.05. Results: More males (57.6%) than females (42.4%) had TDI. Many children (62.1%) sustained TDI at home and falls (77.3%) were the major cause. Only nine (13.6%) children presented within 24 hours following the trauma. There was a significant association between age (p=0.03) and immediate dental visit. Conclusion: Traumatic dental injuries occurred more in boys and at home. Fall was the commonest cause, and few presented within 24 hours following the trauma. Age was a predictor of immediate presentation to the dental clinic.

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.

Introduction: Oral health is defined as a state of being free of mouth and facial pain, oral infections and sores, and other diseases that limit an individual’s capacity for biting, chewing, smiling, speaking, and psychosocial well-being. This study assessed the knowledge, barriers, and facilitators of oral health knowledge among Pharmacists in Enugu, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 163 pharmacists in two tertiary hospitals in Enugu, South East, Nigeria. Data on sociodemographic profiles, knowledge of oral health care, barriers, and facilitators of oral health knowledge was collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were more female 96 (58.9%) than male pharmacists 67 (41.1%). Their mean age was 32.98 ± 8.33 years. The majority of respondents, 56 (34.4%) graduated between 2010 and 2019, and 44 (27%) had additional qualifications. Many of the pharmacists 88 (54%) believed that oral health is part of general health. Also, 107 (65.6%) of the respondents had a good knowledge of oral health while 56 (34.4%) had poor knowledge. There was a significant association between academic qualification (P = 0.04) and having good knowledge of oral health care among pharmacists with those with additional qualifications having better knowledge than the others. Poor creation of oral health awareness by dentists 106 (65.0%) was considered as the main barrier to having good oral health knowledge by the pharmacists. Conclusion: More than half of the pharmacists had good knowledge of oral health and academic qualification was associated with having a good knowledge of oral health care among pharmacists in the study population.

Objectives: The study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated factors of dental caries in primary school children. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 657 primary school children from South East, Nigeria. Data on age, sex, birth rank, dental visits, oral hygiene status, and enamel defects were collected. The presence of dental caries was recorded by using the World Health Organization criteria. Mean DMFT/dmft scores were determined and SPSS version 21 was used for analysis. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were conducted and P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study participants were 316 (48.1%) males and 341 (51.9%) females, and their mean age was 8.41 ± 2.18 years. The prevalence of caries was 22.7% while the mean DMFT and dmft scores were 0.10 and 0.45, respectively. Bivariate analysis showed a significant association between birth rank (P = 0.04), oral hygiene status (P = 0.05), enamel defects (P < 0.001), and dental caries. Multivariate regression analysis showed that good oral hygiene (OR = 0.180, CI: 0.036-1.003, P = 0.04), fair oral hygiene (OR = 0.576, CI: 0.345-0.993, P = 0.04) and enamel defects (OR = 4.939, CI = 2.406-10.137, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of caries in this study. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental caries in this study was high. Oral hygiene and enamel defects were predictors of dental caries in the study population.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and risk indicators of caries among nursing mothers in a tertiary hospital. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 408 nursing mothers aged 15 to 52 years who brought their children for immunization in a tertiary hospital in Enugu, Nigeria. Data on socio-demographic profile, parity, dental visits were collected. The presence of dental caries was recorded using the World Health Organization criteria. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 11.0%, and the mean DMFT was 0.18. There was a statistically significant association between level of education (p<0.001), past dental visit (p<0.001) and the occurrence of dental caries. Caries was more prevalent in the mandibular teeth than the maxillary teeth. The left mandibular first and second permanent molars had the highest occurrence of dental caries. Missing (M) component of the DMFT index was highest and the care index was low. The significant predictors of caries among nursing mothers were fair oral hygiene and having below tertiary education. Conclusion: The prevalence of caries and the care index were both low in this study population. The significant predictors of dental caries were a tertiary level of education and poor oral hygiene. Incorporating oral health education during postnatal care can help reduce dental caries' occurrence and complications among nursing mothers in the study population.

Iated with developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies in primary dentition. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 433 preschool children aged 5 years and below in Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu, Nigeria. Data on sociodemographic profile were collected, and clinical examination was conducted on the children to record the presence of double tooth, hypodontia, hyperdontia (supernumerary), microdontia, talons cusp, hypoplasia, and Hutchinson's incisors. Results: The prevalence of developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies was 14 (3.2%). Five-year-old children (28.6%), male children (57.1%), and children belonging to high socioeconomic status (50.0%) had developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies, and there was a statistically significant association between past dental visit (P < 0.001) and developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies. There was no statistically significant association between age (P = 0.80), sex (P = 0.75), socioeconomic status (P = 0.83), and developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies. The most common developmental dental anomaly was double tooth (1.6%), whereas talons cusp (0.2%) and hyperdontia (0.2%) occurred the least. The upper central incisors were affected the most (48.5%). Conclusion: The prevalence of developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies was low, and past dental visit was associated with developmental dental hard-tissue anomalies in this population....

Objective: To determine the prevalence and socio-behavioural risk factors for dental caries among children at selected LGAs in Lagos State. Material and Methods: This was a descriptive study of 592 school children in four Local Government Areas of Lagos, Nigeria. The presence of caries was recorded using the World Health Organization criteria. Descriptive statistics were reported for analysis of comparative DMFT and SiC scores in relation to age, gender, and other socio-demographic variables. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the differential impact of the variables on the probability of being in the high caries prevalence group. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 16.0% with mean dmft for age 6 being 1.3 ± 1.57 while the mean DMFT for age 12 was 0.15 ± 0.67. The mean Sic for age 6 was 1.5 ± 0.53 while the mean SiC for age 12 was 1.09 ± 0.29. The mean SiC values was significantly higher in the primary and permanent dentition among those who had never visited the dentist, female students, those who don’t use fluoridated toothpaste and those who eat sweets and candy several times a day. After logistic regression analysis, those with no previous dental visit (OR=3.05; CI: 1.72-4.67) and females (OR=1.55; CI: 1.16-1.62) still had significantly higher SiC Values. Conclusion: The prevalence of caries was low in the study population. Being female, non-use of fluoride-containing toothpaste and not visiting the dentist were significant predictors of dental caries among children attending private schools.

Oral hygiene, which is measured by the status of plaque-free tooth surfaces, is essential for the promotion of oral health. This study aimed to determine the social predictors of good oral hygiene for children in a suburban population in Nigeria. This was a secondary analysis of data. The study participants were 8- to 16-year-old children who were residents in Ile-Ife, which is a suburban population in Nigeria. Information on the age, gender, socioeconomic status, family structure, number of siblings and birth rank of each study participant was retrieved from the an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Oral hygiene status was determined through a simplified-oral hygiene index (OHI-S) and categorized as good, fair and poor. The association between oral hygiene status and sociodemographic variables was determined. The predictors of good oral hygiene were determined using a binomial regression analysis. Data on 2,107 individuals were retrieved, of which 44.8% had good oral hygiene and 17.1% had poor oral hygiene. The odds of having good oral hygiene were reduced for children who were 13 to 16 years old (p = 0.02) or male (P=0.002) and children with low socioeconomic status (p ≤ 0.001). The odds of having good oral hygiene increased for children who were last-born compared with those who were first-born (p = 0.02). Age, gender, socioeconomic status and birth-rank were significant social predictive factors of oral hygiene status among the study population. Based on these findings, targeted interventions can be conducted to improve the oral hygiene status of children and adolescents with these social profiles.

Developmental defects of the enamel (DDE) increase the risk for diseases that impact negatively on the quality of life. The objective of this study was to compare the oral health quality of life of children with molar-incisor-hypomineralisation (MIH) and enamel hypoplasia; and assess if caries worsened the impact of these lesions on the quality of life. This study recruited 853 6 to 16-years-old school children. They filled the Child-OIDP questionnaire. The MIH, enamel hypoplasia, caries and oral hygiene status was assessed. Poisson regression was used to determine the impact of MIH and enamel hypoplasia on the oral health quality of life, after adjusting for the effect of sex, age, socioeconomic class, oral hygiene and caries status. The prevalence of MIH and enamel hypoplasia was 2.9% and 7.6% respectively. There was no significant difference in the mean child-OIDP scores of children with or without MIH (p = 0.57), children with or without enamel hypoplasia (p = 0.48), and children with enamel hypoplasia with and without caries (p = 0.30). Children with enamel hypoplasia and caries had worse outcomes for speaking (p = 0.01). Children with middle (AOR: 2.74; 95% CI: 1.60–4.67; P < 0.01) and low (AOR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.04–2.95; p = 0.03) socioeconomic status, and those with caries (AOR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.26–3.22; p = 0.03) had their oral health quality of life negatively impacted. MIH and enamel hypoplasia had no significant impact on the overall oral health quality of life of children resident in southwestern Nigeria. However, children with caries and those from middle and low socioeconomic classes had poorer oral health quality of life.