Awareness on ill effects of tobacco usage among tobacco users.

Tobacco use is reported to increase the chance of a person to get mouth, lip, and lung cancers, chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Tobacco-related deaths are reported to occur among almost six million individuals each year. The objective of the study is to assess awareness and perception on ill effects of tobacco usage among tobacco users in a dental institution. A self-administered survey form was distributed among 100 study participants. Google Forms were distributed in an online forum. The questions were related to awareness on ill effects of tobacco usage and perception regarding harmful effects of tobacco among tobacco users. Collected data were analyzed using statistical software. Among the 100 participants, 68% were males and 32% were females. 73% of the participants reported that they were aware that smoking causes lung disease. Graduated participants were more aware that reduced fertility and sexual impotence would develop among men due to tobacco use (Pearson Chi-square value - 29.380; P = 0.01). The present study suggested that even though most of the respondents had adequate knowledge about the effects of tobacco on general health, knowledge about the consequences of tobacco usage was still inadequate.

Prevalence and dependency of tobacco use among tribal gypsies in Thoothukudi district - A cross sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: The Narikuravars or "gypsy" are a semi vagrant groups distributed across borders, but primarily live in Tamil Nadu, India. They are notorious to face discrimination that interprets into low education level, low socio-economic status and lack of pertinent access to health care. The focus of the present study is to determine the prevalence and dependency with tobacco use among tribal gypsies in Thoothukudi district. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study design of the present study was a cross sectional which was done in Thoothukudi district in the month of December, 2019. Oral health status of the study population was analysed by WHO assessment form (adults), 2013. Tobacco dependence was analysed by Fagerstrom Nicotine dependency scale. The inclusion criteria were to include every gypsy person who is a citizen of Thoothukudi district and of all ages. The study included all the narikuravars (164) whose origin is Thoothukudi district. SPSS version 20.0 was used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics and Chi square tests were done to establish the distribution and association of the variables, respectively. RESULTS: The total study participants of this cross-sectional study were 164, among them 128 were adults and 36 were children. Results revealed that among the adult population 64.55% were using tobacco, among them 29.1% were using smoking tobacco, 63.4% were using smokeless tobacco and 7.5% were using both. Medium nicotine dependency was more prevalent in both smoking and smokeless tobacco users (82.75% and 53.57%). The association between prevalence of tobacco use and gingival bleeding was statistically significant. Gingival bleeding was present in 88.9% of tobacco users and 11% of non-users (p value- 0.01). Significant association was found between gender and tobacco usage (p value- 0.042), dental erosion and tobacco usage (p value- 0.007). There exists significant association established between gender and nicotine dependency. (p value - 0.000). CONCLUSION: More than 60% of the adult study participants were using some form of tobacco. Medium tobacco dependency was prevalent among tobacco users. The tribal people have no access to all the services as their counterparts and it's our duty to educate them and create an insight about the ill effects of tobacco usage.

Prevalence and Comparison of Dental Caries experience among 5 to 12 year old school children of Chandigarh using dft/ DMFT and SiC Index: A Cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood that interferes with normal nutrition intake, speech, and daily routine activities. Dental caries affects people of all ages with the highest priority risk group being school-going children. Hence, this cross-sectional study helps to determine the prevalence and to compare the dental caries experience among 5- to 12-year-old school-going children of Chandigarh using dft/DMFT and SiC index. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was conducted among 3354 school children in the age group of 5 to 12 years. The subjects were selected from four randomly selected schools in Chandigarh. Independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare the mean difference at 5% significance level (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The prevalence of dental caries was found to be 46.9% with a mean dft and DMFT score of 1.36 ± 2.16 and 0.28 ± 0.80, respectively. The SiC index score for primary and permanent dentition were 3.53 ± 2.53 and 0.85 ± 1.20, respectively. The dft scores declined progressively as the age advanced whereas the DMFT scores increased from 5 to 12 years. CONCLUSION: Caries prevalence was high in primary than permanent dentition. Comparison between dft/DMFT and SiC indices indicated there is a subgroup that presented with a higher caries rate.

Concerns with oral health care services for adults with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.

It is of interest to document data on oral health care services for adults with cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Hence, a study protocol was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) with registration number: CRD42020150759. We used PubMed, Science Direct, LILACS and SCIELO to collect data from known literature using keywords containing MESH (Medical Subject Headings) terms. The risk of bias rating for the collected data was calculated using the Newcastle-Ottawa assessment Scale. The AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare, Research and Quality) was used for classifying the level of evidence in the collected data. Analysis of available data shows that there is a lack of dentists with adequate skills to treat people with disabilities resulting in high cost for dental treatment. Thus, we conclude that inconvenient location of dental clinic, lack of dentists willing to treat people with disabilities and attitude of dental staff towards people with learning disabilities were considered as barriers and challenges faced for dental health service utilization in this context.