BACKGROUND: Videos as a medium of health education are useful tools. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a dental health education video in the Yoruba language (spoken in southwestern Nigeria) targeted at children from the lower socioeconomic class. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted among 120 children aged 11 and 12 years, randomly selected from three public primary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Participants were assigned into three study groups: group 1 watched the video, group 2 received verbal dental health education in the Yoruba language and group 3 were the control. Following this, each participant received a full mouth prophylaxis, and six weeks later, their oral hygiene was assessed using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index of Greene and Vermillion. RESULTS: A mean debris score of (1.11), (1.04) and (1.57) was recorded for the video, verbal and control groups respectively (p<0.001). The mean calculus index score was lowest among the verbal group (0.56), followed by the video group (0.75) and highest among the control (1.16) (p<0.001). However, multivariate analysis, controlling for child's age and fathers education, revealed that oral hygiene of the participants in the video group was significantly better by 28.6% compared to the control group while in the verbal education group there was an improvement of 23.4 % in contrast to the control . CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a culturally appropriate video in an indigenous language can significantly improve oral hygiene among school children from the lower socioeconomic group in Nigeria.

This study has shown that referral letters written from various peripheral healthcare centers to the dental centre of a teaching hospital is generally of unacceptable quality and the content could be improved upon.

Fluoride intake in these 4- and 8-year-old Nigerians was much higher than the "optimal range" of 0.05-0.07 mg/kg bw/d in rural, higher F water areas, with diet as the main contributor. F retention was similar in both age groups, with almost half of TDFI retained in the body. In terms of risk vs benefit for fluorosis and dental caries, this finding should be considered when mitigating against excessive fluoride exposure and planning F-based prevention.

A BSTRACT Objectives: This narrative review aimed to show the approaches recommended for the prevention of dental caries in Nigeria by epidemiological surveys (P), primary preventive methods and strategies,( I) comparison preferred by experts (C) in the prevention of dental caries (O). Methods: An electronic literature search of some databases such as Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Google Scholar, African Journal Online (AJOL) and Medline was conducted using these keywords delimited by Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT: “dental caries” “prevention” “Nigeria. Epidemiological studies using WHO criteria published in English between 1999 and 2019 were included in this study. Results: All studies that met the inclusion criteria were epidemiological cross-sectional studies, non-clinic –based. The approaches recommended include need for continuous caries surveillance, preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatment. Conclusions: The recommended approaches should include continuous caries monitoring, comprehensive preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatments in public schools and primary health care (PHC) centres. It is necessary to augment these approaches with undergraduate cariology curriculum review of dental schools, public-private partnership and oral health policy implementation with emphasis on prevention.

ART was shown to be acceptable and effective in the management of single surface occlusal caries in the permanent dentition in these Nigerian children and adolescents outside the traditional clinical setting.

Objectives: Enamel formation is a vulnerable developmental process, susceptible to environmental influences such as excessive systemic fluoride (F) exposure and infant/childhood disease. This study determined prevalence and extent of developmental enamel defects (DDE) and dental fluorosis in 8-year-old Nigerians and explored associations with key predictors.Methods: A sample of 322 healthy 8-year-olds (155 males, 167 females) from primary schools in lower and higher water F areas of (i) rural and (ii) urban parts of Oyo State in south-west Nigeria (n = 4 areas) (in which the mean (SD) F concentration of community water supplies ranged from 0.07 (0.02) to 2.13 (0.64) mg F/L) were dentally examined using modified DDE (mDDE) and Thylstrup and Fejerskov (TF) indices. Drinking waters, cooking waters and toothpaste samples were analysed for F concentration using a F ion-selective electrode (F-ISE). Information on infant/ childhood diseases, infant feeding and tooth cleaning practices was obtained from parents/legal guardians. Data were analysed using ANOVA, chi-square tests, Spearman correlation and binary logistic regression as appropriate.Results: Mean (SD) F concentration of actual drinking and actual cooking waters consumed by participants was 0.25 (0.20) and 0.24 (0.14) mg F/L respectively in the urban higher F area; 1.11 (1.00) and 1.16 (1.02) mg F/L, respectively in the rural higher F area (P < .05). Overall, mouth prevalence of DDE in the permanent dentition was 61.2% with a mean (SD) of 2.4 (2.2) index teeth affected. Dental fluorosis mouth prevalence was 29.8% with a mean of 2.1 (3.7) teeth affected. Prevalence and extent of DDE and dental fluorosis were greater in higher F than lower water F areas (P < .001). A weak positive correlation was seen between extent of dental fluorosis and drinking water F concentration (q = 0.28). The absence of infant/childhood disease was associated with a lower risk of DDE being present (P = .001),with an odds ratio of 0.43 (95% CI = 0.26, 0.71). Gender was a statistically significant (P = .014) predictor for dental fluorosis with females having a higher risk OR 1.94 (95% CI = 1.14, 3.28) of dental fluorosis than males.Conclusions: In these Nigerian 8-year-olds (n = 322), mouth prevalence of DDE was 61.2% (mean (SD) teeth affected = 2.4 (2.2)), and a key positive predictor was a history of infant/childhood disease. With 29.8% of these children exhibiting dental fluorosis (mean (SD) teeth affected = 2.1(3.7)), drinking water F concentration was

In determining the criteria for a good dental practice, clinicians' perspective as well as patients' perspective should be considered.

The mouth prevalence of tooth loss was 47.7%, and mean (SD) number of missing teeth was 5.9 (4.7) teeth. Age, level of education, monthly income and physical impairment were associated with number of missing teeth (P˂.05). Speech difficulty, appearance problem, chewing difficulty, feeling of bereavement, mobility of adjacent teeth, halitosis and premature ageing were associated with increasing number of missing teeth (P˂.05).