Currently, diagnosis of chronic periodontitis is based on clinical methods which are cumbersome and have been shown to have inherent errors and drawbacks including inability to detect active disease. There is therefore an urgent need for a timely, cost-effective and less cumbersome method. Salivary matrix metalloproteinase-8 has been shown in some studies to be a promising bio-marker of chronic periodontitis. This was a case-control study conducted at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. It had 40 cases and 40 controls designed to assess the diagnostic ability of salivary MMP-8 in periodontal disease. Unstimulated whole saliva was assessed using the Quantikine human total MMP-8 ELISA kit from R&D ® systems Europe.

Photosensitive, thermally sacrificial polymer systems consisting of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and a photoacid generator (PAG) were studied for use in the fabrication of buried microchannel systems such as microfluidic devices. Because the fabrication of microchannels was affected by the performance of these materials, changes in the imaging properties were monitored upon the variation of the PAG used in the system. Thin films of PPC loaded with a PAG were spin-cast onto silicon wafers, exposed to UV light to selectively generate acid, and placed on a hotplate to decompose the exposed regions. Properties such as the contrast, sensitivity, and amount of residue remaining after decomposition varied significantly, depending on the PAG used. The use of a metal-free, ionic methide PAG gave the best performance for formulating a chemically amplified, photosensitive, sacrificial polymer system based on PPC.

Chronic periodontitis is a disease of public health concern due to its high prevalence globally, especially in the elderly. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of non-surgical periodontal therapy on salivary levels of TIMP-1 among patients with chronic periodontitis in Nigeria. In this experimental study, unstimulated whole saliva (2 mL) was collected from participants in the experimental and control groups, coded (SP1-40 and SH1-40) respectively and assays for salivary TIMP-1as well as clinical measurements such as plaque (PI), probing depths (PD), and CAL were recorded before and 4 weeks after periodontal treatment. Assay was done using Quantikine human TIMP-1 ELISA kit. Data were presented using frequency tables, means and standard deviation. Paired-T Test assessed association between salivary TIMP-1 before and after treatment. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate salivary TIMP-1 levels with clinical parameters of periodontal disease and levels of statistical significance were set at p < 0.05. A total of 80 respondents participated in the study of which 43.80% were females. Age range was 18 -60 years with a mean of 35.8 ± 12.46 years. Salivary TIMP-1 levels were lower in the case group (13.58 ± 6.53 ng/mL) than the control (15.27 ± 6.10 ng/mL) at baseline but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.13). There was a statistically significant increase in the salivary levels of TIMP-1 in the case group after phase-one periodontal therapy from 13.58 ± 6.53 ng/mL to 17.24 ± 8.44 ng/mL (p = 0.001). Negative correlations were observed between TIMP-1 and clinical parameters of periodontitis.

A report on oral health delivery to rural underserved communities oyo state using the mobile dental clinic.

Introduction Nomads move from one settlement to another, thus it has been difficult to have adequate documentation about their oral health and that of their children. Aim To investigate the perception and practices of nomadic Fulani women toward their children's oral health. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted among 197 Fulani women using a structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Results Perceived causes of tooth decay included tooth germs/worms (23.9%) and sugar (5.1%), and 32.0%, 15.2%, and 5.1%, respectively, self-medicated children with antibiotics, traditional concoctions/herbs, and analgesics for tooth decay. Two fifths (40.1%) attributed bleeding gums to tooth germs/worms. Polyurethane foam (46.7%), toothbrush (32.0%), finger (18.8%), and wooden twigs (2.5%) were aids used for cleaning children's teeth. Conclusions These mothers have suboptimal oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward their children's oral health. There is a need for urgent intervention among this group of people.

Background: As part of implementation quality standards, community distributors are expected to ensure that only age-eligible children (aged 3 – 59 months) receive seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) medicines during monthly campaigns. There is uncertainty about the extent to which SMC medicines are administered to ineligible children. This study therefore aimed to assess the magnitude of this occurrence, while exploring the factors associated with it across nine states where SMC was delivered in Nigeria during the 2022 round. Methods: We extracted data from representative end-of-round SMC household surveys and analyzed data of 3,299 caregiver-child pairs sampled from nine SMC-implementing states in Nigeria. Prevalence of receipt of SMC medicines by ineligible children was described by child-, caregiver- and SMC-related factors. Mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to explore the factors associated with the occurrence. Results: 30.30% (95% CI: 27.80 – 32.90) of ineligible children sampled received at least one dose of SMC medicines in 2022, the majority (60.60%) of whom were aged 5-6 years while the rest were aged 7-10 years. We observed higher odds of an age-ineligible child receiving SMC among caregivers who had poor knowledge of SMC age eligibility (OR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.24 – 2.57, p=0.002), compared with those who were knowledgeable of age eligibility. Higher odds of receipt of SMC were also found among age-ineligible children whose caregivers had higher confidence in the protective effect of SMC against malaria (OR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.3 – 4.2, p=0.007), compared with those whose caregivers were less confident. Conversely, ineligible children whose caregivers were older than 20 years had lower odds of receiving SMC than those whose caregivers were younger; with lower odds among children of caregivers aged 20-29 years (OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.28 – 0.81, p = 0.007), 30-39 years (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.24 – 0.69, p=0.001), and 40-49 years (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.29 – 0.91, p=0.024). Conclusions: This study contributes important evidence on the magnitude of the receipt of SMC by age-ineligible children, while identifying individual and contextual factors associated with it. The findings provide potentially useful insights that can help inform and guide context-specific SMC implementation quality improvement efforts.

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