[Survey of general dental practitioners in Abidjan on the use of the operatory field in dentistry]. / Enquête auprès des omnipraticiens d'Abidjan sur l'utilisation du champ opératoire en dentisterie.

Rubber dam is a standard operatory field in operative dentistry and endodontics. It is undoubtedly the most certain way to insure the success of therapeutics acts. Its use by Abidjan practitioners has been the subject of our study which aim is to underline the place of rubber dam in daily practice. Our investigations show that rubber dam is totally absent from practitioners acts. Generally cotton rolls constitute the most frequent mean used by practitioners to isolate the tooth in operative dentistry and endodontics. Only 23.9% of them associate saliva sucking up. Some cases of aspiration and swallowing file by accident by patients have been highlighted. Those results lead us to recommend the systematic use of rubber dam as the mean of efficiency and security which cannot be ignored in our practice.

[Dental amalgams and mercury polemic in Abidjan]. / Amalgames dentaires et polémique mercurielle à Abidjan.

Dental amalgam is metallic biomaterials which has raised a number of controversies in the past few years, because of mercury potential toxicity. Considering the significance of theses controversies, this study was carried out with a view to evaluating the behaviour of Abidjan-based practitioners with respect to dental amalgam. The contemplated objective is to determine the frequency in the use of dental amalgam, to identify the problems encountered using dental amalgam and to propose solutions for fighting mercury contamination. The results show that dental amalgam is used in 81.8% for posterior teeth restoration. The side effects mentioned are metallic taste, gingival tattoo, galvanic corrosion and tooth pain. This is why 21.8 % of practitioners believe that the controversy over dental amalgam has merits while 45.5% hold the contrary opinion because of lack of scientific arguments. However, considering the absence of means to treat amalgam waste, dentist practitioners and authorities have to get involved to fight against mercury contamination.