A study of 525 3-4-year-old children in nursery schools and day-care centres was carried out to assess occlusal relationships and the presence of spacing or crowding of teeth. No significant differences in occlusal relationships were found between boys and girls (P > 0.05). Bilateral straight terminal planes of molars and class 1 canine relationship were the most prevalent features (74.5% and 73.3% respectively). Most of the children had 'normal' vertical and transverse occlusal relationships. The most common sites of spacing were mesial to maxillary canines and distal to mandibular canines. 32% of the children were found to have generalized anterior segment spacing, 4% showed exclusively anthropoid spaces, and 18% had either contact between all the teeth or crowding in the anterior region.

The aims of this study were to measure the distribution, prevalence and the severity of malocclusion and treatment need amongst randomly selected (n = 703) rural and urban Nigerian children aged 12-18 years (mean 14.0 +/- 1.84) using the dental aesthetic index (DAI), and to assess whether malocclusion was affected by age, gender and socio-economic background. Data were collected according to the method recommended by WHO. Most of the children (77.4 per cent) had a dental appearance which required no orthodontic treatment. Over 13 per cent fell into the group where treatment for malocclusion is considered to be 'elective'. However, a substantial proportion (9.2 per cent) of the population had severe to handicapping malocclusion where treatment is 'highly desirable' or 'mandatory'. There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) in DAI scores between age groups, gender and socio-economic background. This study also found that Nigerian adolescents had better dental appearance and less orthodontic treatment need compared with the Caucasian and Oriental populations.

A study of 1016 12-year-old Nigerian children was carried out to assess the relationship between traumatic injuries of anterior teeth, incisor overjet and lip competence. The prevalence of dental injuries was 10.9% which confirmed the results of previous studies. More boys than girls sustained injuries to their teeth. There were, however, no significant sex differences in increased overjet or lip competence. Of the 111 children with traumatic dental injuries, 71 (64.0%) had increased incisor overjet (> 3 mm) compared to 257 of the 905 children (28.4%) in the non-trauma group. Similarly, 72 (64.9%) of the trauma group had inadequate lip coverage compared to 224 (24.8%) in the non-trauma group. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.001). It is concluded that incisor overjet of more than 3 mm and incompetent lips are significant predisposing factors to anterior dental injury in Nigerian children.

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of signs and symptoms of TMD in young Nigerian adults and to establish a baseline for comparison with other studies. It consisted of a cross-sectional study at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria in 1997. The subjects consisted of 308 medical and dental students (207 males and 101 females) randomly selected from a Nigerian University. Their ages ranged from 17 to 32 years with a mean age of 23 +/- 3.0 years. They were assessed according to the criteria of Helkimo (1974). Whilst 26.3 per cent of the subjects reported mild symptoms (Ai I) of TMD, only 2.9 per cent reported severe symptoms (Ai II). Similarly, 46 per cent showed mild dysfunction signs (Di I), whilst 16.5 and 0.3 per cent exhibited moderate (Di II) and severe (Di III) signs of TMD, respectively. No significant relationships were found between sex, anamnestic index, and the clinical dysfunction index scores. However, there were low but significant correlations between ananmestic index scores (Ai) and the recorded signs (Di), as well as the clinical dysfunction scores (CDS). There is some evidence to show that signs and symptoms of TMD occur amongst Nigerians, although restricted lateral and protrusive mandibular movements contributed significantly to clinical dysfunction scores. This report contrasts with what is found in western societies regarding the low prevalence of TMJ pain. Refereed Scientific Paper

This investigation was undertaken to compare the mesio-distal and bucco-lingual crown dimensions of the permanent teeth in Nigerian and British populations. The study sample consisted of 30 pairs of study models of children from each of the two populations. The children were matched for sex. The mean age for the Nigerian and British samples was 12.5 +/- 1.4 years and 12.9 +/- 1.2 years respectively. No left-right side differences were observed (P > 0.05). The results indicate that the mesio-distal crown diameters were consistently larger in the Nigerian sample. With the exception of mandibular central incisors and maxillary canines there were no statistically significant differences in bucco-lingual crown diameters in the two populations.