Prevention of Dental Caries in Nigeria: A Narrative Review of Strategies and Recommendations from 1999 to 2019.

OBJECTIVES: This narrative review aimed to show the approaches recommended for the prevention of dental caries in Nigeria by epidemiological surveys (P), primary preventive methods and strategies,( I) comparison preferred by experts (C) in the prevention of dental caries (O). METHODS: An electronic literature search of some databases such as Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Google Scholar, African Journal Online (AJOL) and Medline was conducted using these keywords delimited by Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT: "dental caries" "prevention" "Nigeria. Epidemiological studies using WHO criteria published in English between 1999 and 2019 were included in this study. RESULTS: All studies that met the inclusion criteria were epidemiological cross-sectional studies, non-clinic -based. The approaches recommended include need for continuous caries surveillance, preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The recommended approaches should include continuous caries monitoring, comprehensive preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatments in public schools and primary health care (PHC) centres. It is necessary to augment these approaches with undergraduate cariology curriculum review of dental schools, public-private partnership and oral health policy implementation with emphasis on prevention.

A preliminary assessment of the periodontal status of elderly pensioners in Benin City, Nigeria.

AIM: This study was to assess the periodontal status of pensioners in Benin City and obtain baseline data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cross-sectional descriptive study involved 250 subjects selected by systematic random sampling from three clusters of general, university and teaching hospital pensioners examined using the Community Periodontal Index index in four locations within Benin City. RESULTS: The percentages of the dentate subjects with healthy gingiva, bleeding on probing, calculus, shallow pockets and deep pockets were 2.4, 5.2, 46.8, 38.8 and 6.8%, respectively. Only 2% needed no periodontal treatment; those requiring oral hygiene instructions, scaling and polishing and complex treatment were 52, 39 and 7%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the periodontal status of the pensioners by gender, age or tooth brushing habits. CONCLUSION: The presence of calculus accounted for the most prevalent periodontal condition among the elderly pensioners followed by shallow periodontal pocketing apparently owing to poor dental attendance or lack of access to care. A comprehensive pensioner's oral health programme is recommended.

Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens and management of exposure incidents in Nigerian dental schools.

The goal of this study was to determine the frequency of occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens amongst Nigerian clinical dental students, their HBV vaccination status, and reporting practices. A cross-sectional study of all clinical dental students in the four Nigerian dental schools was carried out by means of an anonymous self-administered questionnaire that asked questions on demography, number and type of exposure, management of the exposures, personal protection against cross infection, and the reporting of such exposures. One hundred and fifty-three students responded (response rate of 84.5 percent). Only thirty-three (37.9 percent) were fully vaccinated against HBV. Ninety (58.8 percent) of the students have had at least one occupational exposure. There was no significantly associated difference between sex, age, location of school, and exposure. Most of the exposures (44.4 percent) occurred in association with manual tooth cleaning. There was inadequate protection of the eyes. None of the exposures were formally reported. It is the responsibility of training institutions to ensure the safety of the students by mandatory HBV vaccination prior to exposure and adequate training in work safety. Written policies and procedures should be developed and made easily accessible to all workers to facilitate prompt reporting and management of all occupational exposures.