The relationship between medicine and dentistry in Nigeria from the time of colonial rule to date is highlighted. Records have shown that medical practice is much older than dental practice and this pioneering advantage in health education enhanced the establishment of the first medical school in Ibadan in 1948. Whereas, almost two decades after, the first dental school in Nigeria which incidentally is the oldest dental institution in Black Africa was founded at the University of Lagos in 1966. The ideology prevailing in Nigeria at that time was undoubtedly believed to have been strongly influenced by the colonial link with Britain. Subsequently, three additional dental schools were established in Ile-Ife, Ibadan and Benin to bring to a total of four throughout a nation that can easily boast of twenty-four medical schools. This preponderance of medical schools over the dental institutions is a strong index that may be said to precipitate the dominance of medicine over dentistry.
The efficacy of a topically applied herbal dentifrice (toothpaste) Dabur (R) was evaluated in thirty albino rats. Dental caries was induced by inoculating their mouths with Streptococcus viridans and then fed a cariogenic 56% sucrose sugar in addition to rat pellets. The animals were then divided into 3 equal groups with 10 rats per group. Group 1, the (control) had daily molar teeth brushing with water, while Group II Dabur (R) had molar teeth brushing daily with the paste and Group III Maxam (R) had molar teeth brushing using Maxam (R) toothpaste. Water was available throughout the eight weeks of the study after which the animals were sacrificed, the jaws separated and the molar teeth scored for dental caries. The results showed a significant (p <0.05) caries reduction of 54.37% by the Dabur (R) toothpaste and 36.86% by Maxam (R). This reduction suggested the inhibitory role the experimental herbal dentifrice Dabur (R) plays in caries development.
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