Rural-urban disparities in knowledge, attitude, and practice toward child oral health among mothers of 9-36-month-old children.

Objective: To assess and compare the knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers of pre-school children in urban and rural areas toward maintaining child oral health. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in a convenient sample of 400 mothers of pre-school children (aged 9 months to 3 years) visiting the outpatient department of the Department of Dentistry, Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa (M.P), India between February 1 and April 21, 2022. The study sample was divided into two groups based on whether they belonged to a rural area (Group A) or urban area (Group B). Group A included 236 participants, and Group B 186 participants. They were served a 24-item questionnaire to assess and compare their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward child oral health. The data were represented as mean and proportions, and a student t test and analysis of variance were performed. Results: In Group A and Group B, 93.64% and 98.17% mothers respectively had the knowledge of cariogenic food. While 66.10% of mothers in Group A and 73.78% in Group B were aware that regular cleaning of teeth protects against tooth decay, only 5.49% of mothers in Group B and none in Group A reported taking their children to routine dental visits; the majority (94.07% in Group A and 78.05% in Group B) had never taken their children to the dentist. Urban background was significantly associated with better knowledge, attitude, and practice scores. Mother's' age and education level were significantly associated with better Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice scores in both groups. Conclusion: Mothers can play an important role in promoting positive attitudes and healthy practices toward oral health care in children. Knowledge, attitude, and practice score were found to be significantly low in mothers who belonged to the rural subgroup.

Prevalence and pattern of lobular capillary hemangioma in Eastern Madhya Pradesh, India: A clinicopathological analysis.

BACKGROUND: Lobular capillary hemangioma is a common benign vascular tumor seen in the oral cavity. It occurs in response to various stimuli such as low-grade local irritation, traumatic insult, and hormonal factors or as a response to a wide variety of drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients presenting to the Department of Dentistry, Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh during July 2014 to June 2016, who were diagnosed by histopathologic confirmation as oral lobular capillary hemangioma (OLCH), were evaluated for the area involved, clinicopathologic presentation, demographic features, and treatment. RESULTS: A total of 94 cases were identified as OLCH by histopathologic confirmation during this period. The lesion occurred most commonly in the age group of 21-30 years. A characteristic female predominance (female: male ratio of 2.24:1) was seen. Anterior maxillary labial gingiva was most frequently involved (34.04%) followed by posterior maxillary buccal gingiva (14.89%). CONCLUSION: The clinicopathologic picture of OLCH found in this study was similar to other studies conducted on same as well different ethnic and geographical populations. Poor oral-dental-hygiene was observed in majority of patients (87.23%) dental health education should be an integral component of imparting oral health care by health providers. Surgical excision as a treatment modality renders good results with low recurrence rate.

Necrotizing fasciitis of face--our experience in its management.

Necrotising fasciitis (NF) is a severe soft tissue infection which spreads rapidly through fascial planes, characterised by soft tissue necrosis and potentially life threatening. Involvement of the face from NF is rare. Only 35 such cases have been reported in the literature since 1960. It is associated with a high mortality and results in severe disfigurement of the face, posing challenging reconstructive problems. The authors present their experience on the comprehensive management of NF of face with severe disfigurement affecting a young female patient.