Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the marginal adaptation and discrepancy of SSC’s. Differences in adaptation and discrepancy between the four surfaces (mesial, lingual, distal, and buccal) were evaluated. Methods: The placement of stainless steel crowns were completed on a phantom head in accordance with the clinical technique. The ideal tooth preparation was made and this ‘master tooth’ duplicated to achieve a sample size of 15. The stainless steel crowns were placed, trimmed, and cemented as per the clinical technique. The cemented stainless crowns were analyzed under 100× stereomicroscope magnification. The marginal adaptation and discrepancy of each specimen was measured every 2 µm. Results: All the specimens showed marginal adaptation and discrepancy. The lingual margin had a significantly better adaptation (p < .0001) over the other surfaces. The buccal surface was the only surface that had an appropriate supra-CEJ level with a significance of p < .0001. Conclusion: The marginal discrepancies occur during the trimming procedure and assessment of the gingival approximation of the SSC margin. The inspection of stainless steel crown adaptation and discrepancy is an essential clinical step.

Health SA Gesondheid promotes communication, collaboration and teamwork between professions and disciplines within the health sciences to address problems that cross and affect disciplinary boundaries.

Background: Children continue to suffer from the impact of the human immunodeficiency virus‐acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic. In Cape Town, these children receive medical care including antiretroviral therapy from facilities like Tygerberg Hospital's Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic. HIV‐infected children may experience an increased caries experience when compared with their healthy peers.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the oral health status of HIV‐infected children younger than 12 years receiving antiviral drugs at the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic.Design: A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among children aged between 2 and 12 years presenting at this clinic. Caregivers were interviewed to obtain information regarding health seeking behaviour, oral hygiene practices and dietary habits. A single clinician undertook a standardized clinical intraoral examination according to the World Health Organization guidelines, with modifications.Results: Sixty‐six children were recruited. A high prevalence of dental caries (78.8%) and an unmet treatment need of 90.4% were recorded among the participants. Most children had never visited the dentist, and those who did had mainly received emergency dental care.Conclusion: The high prevalence of severe dental caries in this population highlights the need for oral health awareness and the inclusion of oral health care in the comprehensive care of children with HIV.Why this paper is important to paediatric dentists: The study highlights the importance of collaborating with health professions outside of dentistry. Doctors and nurses are often the first health professionals to come into contact with children with special needs. They should therefore be made aware of the early signs of decay so that these patients can be referred for dental treatment timeously. Holistic management of children with special healthcare needs is essential to improve their overall well‐being.

Objective: This retrospective survey highlighted the characteristics of children less than six years of age presenting with early childhood caries(ECC) who had two or more teeth extracted under intravenous sedation at the Tygerberg Oral Health Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. This survey was carried out in order to plan a community-appropriate intervention strategy. Methods: Records of 140 patients kept by the pediatric Dentistry Division met the inclusion criteria and were included in this survey. Most of the patients originate from economically disadvantaged areas. Results: Diet, feeding and oral hygiene habits were shown to be the most significant factors that contributed to the development of ECC in these patients. All the children were either breast- or bottle-fed past one year of age. 93.6% of the children went to sleep with the bottle or while on the breast and 90% of them were fed on demand during the night. On average, breastfeeding was stopped at 9 months of age compared to bottle-feeding that, on average, was stopped at a much later mean age of 23 months. Where oral hygiene practices were concerned, 52.6% of children brushed their own teeth without supervision. Frequency of brushing varied between subjects. Conclusion: The results of this study have demonstrated that there is a need for culturally appropriate education campaigns to inform parents (especially those in disadvantaged communities) about the importance of oral health and the prevention of oral disease.

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) were developed to address the health needs of communities through collaborative practice across healthcare disciplines. The impact of IPE on IPCP and clinical service delivery in South Africa is not evident, possibly because of the lack of IPCP experiences among healthcare professionals. Aim: International literature reports facilitators and barriers of IPCP implementation, but there was a need to filter the evidence to identify literature from the South African context regarding the perceptions of healthcare workers’ perceived barriers and facilitators of IPCP. Setting: South African literature. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to synthesise evidence from articles published between January 2017 and December 2021. Only qualitative studies targeting health professionals in South Africa who had been exposed to IPCP were included. Consistent with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis, a multi-database search yielded 424 articles, which were screened for relevance and appraised for quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool. A thematic synthesis of the findings was conducted by applying ethical principles. Results: Synthesis of barriers and enablers for IPCP implementation in the South African context included key aspects of healthcare systems, management and team leadership. Conclusion: The integration of IPCP into clinical practice in South Africa is still limited as healthcare professionals operate in silos. Contribution: Recommendations of this study include greater integration of services combined with competent management and visionary leadership, together with the incorporation of IPE into undergraduate professional training programmes.