Socio-economic status and utilisation of orthodontic services in a Nigerian hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of socio-economic status on the utilization of orthodontic services and the uptake of orthodontic treatment in a Nigerian teaching hospital. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Relevant information needed for the study had been previously recorded in the patient's case file. A total of 157 patients that presented from December 2002 to December 2004 were reviewed. The socio-demographic data of each patient and all other necessary clinical information were retrieved from the patients case files using a common data abstraction form. The patients were further categorized according to their socio-economic status using a modification of the standard occupational classification system (12). Social Class I represented those with the highest income while social class IV represented those with the lowest income. RESULTS: Out of the 157 patients that presented during the period of review, 86 (54.8%) were from social class I, 42 (26.7%) from social class II, 22 (14.0%) from social class III and 7 (4.5%) from social class IV. Sixty three percent of the patients presented with skeletal Class I, 23.5% presented with Skeletal Class II, while 13.5% presented with Skeletal Class III, 29.3% of the patients presented with normal over jet and 38.8% patients presented with normal overbite. The Social Class of the patients had a significant effect on the skeletal pattern and overbite (p < 0.05) CONCLUSION: Majority of patients utilizing Orthodontic services are from the higher social classes, therefore the uptake of orthodontic treatment is mainly a function of cost and not need or demand.

Preventive and interceptive orthodontic demand for malocclusion.

Orthodontic unit, University College Hospital, Ibadan is young and in need of baseline data for effective planning. The main aim of this study was to determine the nature of orthodontic demands in the unit that could benefit from preventive and interceptive treatment so as to enhance treatment planning, teaching and further research. Consecutive patients who presented for treatment in the Unit between May 1997 and November 1999 were included in the study. The patients aged 5-19 years with mean age of 8.8 +/- 0.82 years. One hundred and twenty-one (60.5%) of the orthodontic cases that presented for treatment needed one form of preventive and interceptive treatment or the other such as extraction of retained primary teeth, use of upper removable orthodontic appliances to correct teeth in cross bite, extraction of erupted supernumerary teeth and fabrication of oral habit breaking appliances such as goal post appliance. Ninety-three (76.9%) of these children had retained primary anterior teeth while 9.1% had proclination of maxillary anterior teeth with moderate spacing. Based on dental history and clinical examination, nine (7.4%) children were involved with oral habits, seven (5.8%) and one (0.8%) had anterior crossbite and supernumerary teeth, respectively. The remaining 39.5% needed full-blown orthodontic treatments. No sex predilection was found in relation to the various needs (P > 0.05). We suggest a need for more emphasis on preventive and interceptive orthodontic treatment in our environment due to the relatively high prevalence ofthese presenting needs.

Periodontal status and treatment needs of 12-15 year old institutionalized mentally handicapped school children in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Mentally handicapped children are known, to have poor periodontal health. But previous studies lack conformity due to the use of different indices by the different authors. Twenty-five institutionalized mentally handicapped school children in Ibadan, Nigeria were studied with the aim of assessing their periodontal health and per treatment needs using the CPITN which is known to be simple and has international uniformity. The result showed that none of the children had healthy periodontium and all the children will need oral hygiene care with a significant percentage (8%) requiring complex periodontal care. The need for comprehensive preventive dental program is discussed since the hallmark of management of the children is prevention.