Oral Health-Related Quality of Life of Children Born With Orofacial Clefts in Ethiopia and Their Parents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the oral health-related quality of life (OH-RQoL) using a translated standardized measure in an understudied population of Ethiopian children born with orofacial clefts (OFCs) and their parents. METHODS: Using a descriptive study design, we assessed the OH-RQoL of 41 patients with OFCs between the ages of 8 and 17 years and their parents. Participants received multidisciplinary cleft care from 2008 to 2016. They completed an Amharic translation of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP). RESULTS: There was strong internal reliability with the translated COHIP for parents and patients. Parents' COHIP scores ranged from 67 to 186, and patients' scores were 78 to 190. The mean for patients and parents was 155, indicating good OH-RQoL. CONCLUSION: The Amharic translation of the COHIP appears appropriate for use with families in Ethiopia. Both parents and patients reported OH-RQoL at similar levels as other international populations.

Analysis of early neonatal deaths in Yekatit 12 hospital, Addis Ababa.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide approximately 4 million newborns die each year. Three quarters of the neonatal deaths happen in the first week after birth. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to study the factors associated with early neonatal deaths and the clinical causes of these deaths. METHODS: A retrospective record review of all early neonatal deaths among the live births was conducted at Yekatit 12 Hospital for the period of Oct. 2006- Sep. 2007. RESULTS: There were 2301 live births with 59 early neonatal deaths making the mortality rate 25.6 per 1000 live births. Early neonatal deaths were higher in males, in neonates with low birth weight, low apgar score and maternal age of 40 years and above compared to their counterparts, respectively. CONCLUSION: Most of the factors associated with early neonatal deaths can be corrected with proper perinatal care. Training of midwives on neonatal resuscitation techniques will help reduce early neonatal deaths.

Foreign Bodies Simulating a Congenital Palatal Fistula and Vascular Anomaly.

Foreign bodies embedded in the palate are uncommon findings and may occasionally mimic oral lesions. In the majority of the cases, foreign body embedment in the palate happens in infants and children who are unable to give history. Physical examination in the oral cavity of this group of patients in order to arrive at a definitive diagnosis is limited. We present two female infants with foreign bodies adherent to the hard palate. The first was ten months old and the second was 11 months old. In both cases the materials removed from the palate were plastic in nature (black or red in color and circular in shape). The first simulated a palatal fistula and the second a vascular anomaly.