Caries of the first permanent molar in Ivory Coast children

The authors study dental decay in the first permanent molar among school children in Dimbokro (C?te d'Ivoire). The study, carried out on 1050 children aged between 7 to 16, revealed a low CAO index but a frequency index greater than 50%.     

Topographical and morphological study of the mandibular foramen in black Africans from the Ivory Coast]

Sixty one dry mandibles. have been studied to provide some anatomical informations on the position, shape and size of the mental foramen among adults Black Africans of Ivory Coast. According the results, in the male mandibles, the mental foramen lay 27,31 mm behind the symphyses , 74,75 mm forward the post border of the ramus, 14,89 mm above the lower border and 16,16 mm under the alveolar margin. In the female mandibles, the mental foramen lay 27,16mm behind the symphysis, 69,10 mm forward the post border of the ramus, 14,21 mm above the lower border and 15,66 mm under the alveolar margin. This study confirmed that on the horizontal plane, the mental foramen lay approximatively one quarter of the distance from mandibular symphyses to the post border of the ramus. The margin of mental foramina was elliptic in 66,67 % and 64,52 % of the cases respectively in male and female mandibles. The mean sizes of the long and short axes of forarnina were 5,03 mm and 3,97 mm in the male mandibles. These dimensions were 4,99 mm and 3,87 mm in the female mandibles.     

Causes of late odontostomatologic consultations in Ivory Coast]

In Africa, particularly in Ivory-Coast, dental patients present late with life threatening complications. The authors designed a questionnaire to be filled by each patient who presented with serious dental pathology whose only remedy was tooth extraction. Causes of late consultation including financial deprivation, fear of dentist, self medication are some of the factors identified by the authors as the most frequent factors. Dental health education and a comprehensive, social policy are advanced as possible ways of prevention.     

Evaluation of the facial esthetics in an Ivory Coast population]

Nowadays aesthetic standards reflect a generalisation of western ones. We propose to outline an aesthetic concept about Ivorian face. A selected jury will have to judge fifty-three Ivorian faces, through photographs and also, we'll make the cephalometric analysis of flabby and osseous tissues. We expect then, to provide orthodontists with basic references whenever they have to establish treatment objectives, for Negro-African, (particularly Ivorian), patients with facial disharmony evaluated according to western norms.     

Organization of dentistry in the Ivory Coast. Evaluation and perspectives

The author of this article was interested in the organization of odontology on the C?te d'Ivoire. First of all, he studied the different odontology pillars existing: their composition and their problems. Then he explained that in spite of the sanituary structures and the dental personal in office, the needs of the population in buccal and dental care would not be satisfied as long as the authorities would not modify the present organization of Ivoirian odontology. Finally, he produced some concrete propositions aimed at, in the long run on improving the buccal and dental state (health) of the collectivity.     

Preoperative diet and complete dentures in Ivory Coast]

The toothless patients of developing country are a real problem of nutrition. The practitioners are in the habit of doing the prostheses restoration wit hoof thinking of alimentation. In this work, authors show the energetic and protein malnutrition of the toothless patients of Cote d'lvoire and propose a hyperprotein diet with their alimentation habit in order to prepare the psychic and physic site who must receive complete prostheses.     

Traditional esthetic concepts of Akan women in Ivory Coast]

Akan is a linguistic group living in the Middle-East and South-East parts of Ivory Coast. This group has its particular esthetic concept: esthetic should produce first, a general harmony. The most beautiful young girl is a very important personality in the society. She should wear the most beautiful jewels and clothes of the family to represent the village everywhere. Akan esthetic concept concerns both physical features and moral characteristics.     

Periodontal diseases in a university setting in Ivory Coast]

The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases, and also to evaluate periodontal treatment needs of the students of Abidjan University, in Ivory Coast. 647 students were randomly selected and interviewed to determine age, sex and oral hygiene habits; the subjects were examined for tooth mobility, plaque, calculus, gingival bleeding, periodontal probing depths and gingival recessions. The oral hygiene was insufficient: 86.08% of the subjects presented calculus--The average of sextants presenting gingival bleeding was to 4.03 and to 3.43 for calculus. The prevalence and severity of periodontal pockets were low: only 0.36 sextants on average presented pockets of 4-5 mm and 0.025 sextants presented pockets of 6 mm or more. As concerns periodontal treatment needs, 89.64% of subjects needed oral hygiene advises, 84.85% needed scaling/root planning, and 1.39% needed complex periodontal treatment. Our findings confirm the fact that destructive periodontal disease is not an inevitable consequence of gingivitis. The information, screen, and prevention should begin reality in our daily practice.     

Craniofacial anatomo-morphological profile of black African Ivory Coast children

An African Negro?d ivorian child's facial, cranial, morphological and anatomical profile research The cephalometric study of telerdiography negatives of profile carried out on a sample of 52 Ivorian children from 11 to 14 years old, has shown some particularities which characterize the face and skull architecture. These particular features differentiate the Ivorian from the west Africans and from the French. According to the authors it would be better to establish the Ivorian's specific norms and to consequently adapt the face and tooth orthopedie therapeuties.     

Traditional practices and exploitation of medicinal plants in odontostomatology in Ivory Coast

Traditional medicine of which is a part traditional odontology occupies an important place within the African societies. It often constitutes the first appeal (80 % of the population) because of the high cost of the care, the incapacity of the human and material resources but also the faiths of the populations. This reality makes valuation of the traditional odontology a necessity. This study comes within this framework. It's a contribution for a better knowledge of practices and plants used in traditional odontology in Ivory Coast. So, after a presentation of some traditional knowledge's and their fields of application, the authors review studies made on the efficiency of plants in the prevention of tooth decay and the treatment of some oral diseases. The objective of these researches is to elaborate effective and financially affordable traditional improved drugs.     

Self medication during orodental diseases in urban Ivory Coast. Results of a study in the region of Abidjan]

During six months, a study enclosing 418 patients from 15 to 60 years old, has been realised in nine dental offices of the Abidjan area. Self-medication has been found among 37.32 per cent of the patients. The most concerned medicines are no steroid inflammatories, analgesics and antibiotics. According to this study, the main reasons of the self-medication are the pain, the lack of money, the practice and the fear of the dental surgeon. The medicines are obtained at the chemist's or bought at the market or in the street. The results of the study are compared to others did in different specialities.     

Difficulties in the surgery of lower wisdom teeth in dental offices in Ivory Coast]

Extraction of impacted inferior molars is becoming a frequent surgical intervention in Ivory Coast. Patients are mainly young adults who come for consultation due to difficult eruption of the impacted molars. They are often referred after attempted extraction by professional colleagues. Perioperative difficulties during, extraction of inferior molars depict. particular dental character of Negroid African: limited surgical sundries, perioperative haemorrhage, intraosseous anatomical relation with inferior dental nerve, corono-radicular morphology of the tooth.     

Longitudinal study of dental caries prevalence and incidence in the rapakivi (high fluoride) and olivine diabase (low fluoride) areas of Laitila, Finland

This paper is a continuation of the author's study published in 1975. The teeth of the school children included in the study were first examined in 1952, re-examined in 1972 and subsequently at 5-year intervals. Children in the village of Salo had drinking water with a high fluride content and those in the village of Suontaka drank water with a low fluoride content. In the first examination, the Salo children showed a caries prevalence, measured with the DMF inxed, ca. 67% lower than the Suontaka children. With some exceptions, such as the first molars, the absolute differences in caries prevalence between subjects from the two villages had remained practically the same throughout the years. By the 1987 examination, the difference had been reduced, measured with the DMF index, to about 23% and with the DMFS index, to about 28%. In the last 5 years (1982-87), the DMFS index of the Suontaka pupils increased by 2.5 and that of the Salo pupils by 4.1. In the preceding two 5-year periods the increment in each group was ca. 7.0%.     

Seasonal variation in fluoride intake: the Iowa fluoride study

OBJECTIVES: Although patterns of fluid intake change seasonally, little is known about how fluoride intake varies by season. Since even short-term increases in fluoride intake could potentially lead to more dental fluorosis, it is valuable to assess the degree of seasonal variation to determine if it increases fluoride intake to levels that could be considered a concern in young children. METHODS: Questionnaires were mailed periodically to participants in the Iowa Fluoride Study beginning at 6 weeks of age and continuing for a number of years. Parents recorded the date; child's weight; estimates of the amounts of water and other beverages that their child consumed per week; the type and amount of any fluoride supplements used; and the type, amount, and frequency of dentifrice used, with an estimate of the proportion of dentifrice that was swallowed. Documented water fluoride levels from municipal sources and assay of individual sources were linked to water intake amounts. Total fluoride intake per kg body weight was estimated from water, other beverages, fluoride supplements, and ingested dentifrice. Generalized linear models compared temperature-related and seasonal effects after adjusting for the child's age. RESULTS: Separate analyses for ages 0-12 months and 12-72 months showed different results. Children younger than 12 months of age did not exhibit significant seasonal or temperature-related variation in any of the components of fluoride intake. Children aged 12-72 months had higher fluoride intake (mg F/kg bw) from beverages in summer (P<.05), and fluoride intake from beverages increased with monthly temperature (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Fluoride intake from beverages for children aged 12-72 months is slightly higher in the summer and increases with mean monthly temperature. Fluoride intake from supplements and dentifrice did not change significantly with either season or temperature.     

Three-year study of the effect of fluoride varnish (Duraphat) on proximal caries progression in teenagers

Abstract – The effect of sodium fluoride varnish (Duraphat) applications on proximal caries progression was studied during a 3-yr period in 87 teenagers and compared to a control group (n= 107). In the fluoride varnish group the children were treated with fluoride varnish every third month during the experimental period. Caries lesions on the mesial surfaces of first premolars to the mesial surfaces of second molars were recorded annually on radiographs and an individual progression value was calculated. The study showed that topical application of fluoride varnish every third month significantly (p<0.05) reduced the progression of proximal caries lesions in premolars and molars. The most obvious reduction of caries progression was observed among children who developed between two and eight new proximal lesions during the test period. In the children with the highest caries activity (> nine new proximal lesions) Duraphat treatments did not significantly reduce proximal caries progression in premolars and molars.