Background The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and pattern of traumatic dental injury (TDI) among adults presenting in a tertiary health care facility in Nigeria, the time interval between injury and presentation in the hospital, the reasons for seeking treatment, and the complications arising due to late presentation.Methods Information obtained from history taking and clinical examination included Patient’s demographics, the when, where, and how of the injury, previous history of trauma, time elapsed between injury and presentation at the hospital, reason for seeking treatment, tooth/teeth involved, sensibility, tenderness to percussion, mobility, presence of discolouration, swelling, sinus tract, and mobility. Radiographic findings such as periapical radiolucency, pulp canal obliteration, and root resorption were also documented. TDI was classified using the Andreasen’s classification.ResultsOut of the 2645 adult patients that attended the outpatient clinic, 184 Presented with TDI giving a prevalence of 6.96 %. Their age range and mean age were 17–69 years and 30.6 ± 11.2 years respectively. Falls accounted for most (26.4 %) of the trauma to anterior teeth followed by motor cycle accidents (18.4 %) and domestic accidents (12.9 %), while opening bottle cork accounted for 1.2 %. The most common type of injury was enamel-dentine fracture accounting for 28.8 %, followed by complicated crown fracture 18.6 %, and avulsion 11.7 %. The maxillary central incisors were the most commonly affected followed by the maxillary lateral incisors and canines. More than half (51.5 %) of the patients presented in the hospital more than 1 year after injury. Majority of patients in the age groups ≤20 and 51–60 sought treatment because of pain, while more of those in the age groups 21–30 and 31–40 sought treatment because of aesthetic considerations. Seventy three (45.3 %) of the patients presented with complications involving 138 teeth. Majority of the complications were in teeth with enamel-dentine fracture (93.4 %), followed by concussion injury (55.6 %).ConclusionsThe prevalence of TDI in this study falls within previously reported figures. However, the high number of teeth developing complications may have resulted from late presentation for care.

BackgroundPain is considered a key symptom associated with possible impairment of oral-health-related quality of life and its assessment is important for the planning and evaluation of preventive and treatment effort. The tools for assessing pain must therefore be valid and consistent. The objective of this study was to assess dental patients’ level of pain based on the clinical diagnosis of their dental condition and the correlation between two pain assessment scales, Visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Full Cup Test (FCT), for the assessment of pain among dental patients.MethodsA total of 185 patients presenting at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital dental outpatient clinics with various forms of orofacial pain were included in this study. The mean VAS scores and mean FCT scores for the different dental conditions were compared. Agreement between VAS and FCT was evaluated using the Intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficients and Cronbach alpha coefficient was also calculated to assess consistency of the two pain scales.ResultsMajority i.e. 95.1, 96.2 and 100% who presented with acute pulpitis, acute apical periodontitis and pericoronitis respectively, presented with moderate to severe pain levels (p < 0.05). Only 25.9 and 4% who presented with chronic marginal gingivitis and chronic pulpitis respectively presented with no pain (p < 0.05). A large proportion (75%) of patients with no pain had single diagnosis while more than half (52.1%) of those who presented with severe pain had multiple diagnoses (p = 0.025). The mean VAS and FCT scores for acute pain were 6.1 ± 2.1 and 5.9 ± 2.4 respectively and for chronic pain 3.9 ± 2.7 and 3.7 ± 2.7 respectively (P = 0.001). The interclass correlation coefficient revealed that the mean VAS and FCT scores were statistically correlated and reliable with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.85.ConclusionIt can be concluded that patients who presented with either acute or chronic dental conditions may experience moderate to severe level of pain, with patients with multiple diagnoses experiencing more severe pain, and there is a correlation between the VAS and FCT for pain assessment among dental patients.

Background:Nigeria's National Health Act 2014 (NHA 2014) was signed into law on October 31, 2014. It provides a legal framework for the regulation, development, and management of Nigeria's Health System. This study assessed the knowledge and perception of the NHA 2014 by health professionals.Materials and Methods:This was a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted in December 2015, in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. Data entry and analysis were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) statistical software, with Pearson's Chi-square, which is used to determine the associations between variables. Statistical significance was set at a P < 0.05.Results:The study population comprised 130 health professionals (medical doctors/dentists, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and other health-related professionals) in attendance at a medical conference. The respondents' age ranged from 21 to 75 years with a mean age of 44.53 ± 12.46 years. Medical practitioners accounted for 82.3% of the respondents. Although most (79.2%) respondents had a good perception of the NHA 2014 with majority (86.2%) claiming they were aware of the act, majority (73.8%) exhibited poor knowledge of the act. A little more than half (53.1%) of the respondents believed that the NHA 2014 will help to reduce strike actions in the health sector.Conclusion:Although health professionals in Nigeria have good awareness and perception of the NHA 2014, their knowledge of the Act is poor.

Objective: To assess dental students' knowledge of dental radiation protection and practice as well as correlating their knowledge to practice on dental radiography. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study on radiation protection among dental students. Correct responses to the questions were allocated 1 mark while wrong response received no mark. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 17 (Chicago, IL.). Pearson's coeffi cient correlation analysis was performed to establish relationship between various variables with the signifi cant level set at 5%. Results: The study was conducted among 78 fi nal year dental students, of which 32 were females and 46 were males. The mean score of the students on knowledge of radiobiology was 1.85 ± 1.19. Knowledge of radiation protection was abysmally poor with mean score of 0.92 ± 0.80 while the mean score of radiation protection practice was 2.69 ± 1.42. There was no signifi cant correlation between the number of radiographs taken and knowledge of radiation protection or practice. A greater proportion of students with ''good'' radiation protection knowledge in comparison to those with ''poor'' knowledge kept a distance of over 3 metres from the patients/X-ray tube, wore lead apron, used the lowest possible settings on the X-ray machine and used collimators. Most (75.6%) of the students thought they did not have adequate knowledge on radiation protection. Conclusion: There is need to expand the curriculum to provide better exposure to radiation protection and its practice, so that these students on graduation will be well grounded with the principle governing dental radiography.

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