Background: An early first dental clinic appointment offers the prospect of prompt preventative care and parental education regarding the oral health of the child. The evidence-based recommendation by dental professionals all over the world is that a child should visit a dentist before or by 1 year of age. Aim: This study aimed to determine the chronological age at and the purpose for a first dental clinic visit amongst children aged 16 years and below attending the Paediatric Dental Clinic at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted amongst children who attended the Paediatric Dental Clinic at the LUTH between January 2017 and December 2018. Data on age at first dental visit, reasons for attending and other information relevant to the study were collected. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis were conducted, and the level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: A total of 1157 children were studied, comprising 580 (50.5%) males and 577 (49.9%) females. Their mean age on their first dental visit was 7.9 ± 3.7 years. Most of the children (31.4%) had their first dental visits at 7 and 9 years, and 0.8% of the children had their first dental visit below the age of 1 year. The most common reason for visiting the dental clinic was dental pain (33.1%). A higher proportion of the children (911 [79.0%]) had their first dental visit for therapeutic purposes, whereas 246 (21.0%) children visited the dental clinic for preventive care. Sex and age at first dental visit were statistically significantly associated with the reason for attendance (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Most children had their first dental visit between the ages of 7 and 9 years, mainly because of pain. It is necessary to create more awareness among parents/caregivers and to establish the concept of dental home.

Introduction: Utilization of dental services is recognized as important for the prevention and management of dental diseases. Community-based studies on dental service utilization patterns are sparse in African countries like Nigeria. This study describes factors influencing dental service...

Background: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have emerged in the Nigerian market, and if used without supervision, may have damaging effects on the physical and mental health of users. Therefore, there is a need to determine the patterns of use, especially among adolescents and young adults. This study aims to assess the prevalence and factors associated with electronic cigarette use, as well as the relationship between their use and anxiety among adolescents and young adults in Lagos, Nigeria. Method: An online cross-sectional study among participants aged between 15–35 years. The survey had three sections: sociodemographic information, the pattern of e-cigarette use, and a 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with e-cigarette use. P-values <0.05 were considered significant. Statistical analysis was done using STATA-15.0 software. Results: Data from a total of 949 respondents was analysed. Participants had a mean age of 23.36 years (±3.97) and were predominantly female (55.64%). The prevalence of e-cigarette ever-use was 7.9% (95% CI: 5.8,10.0). Older age and being male were independently associated with higher odds of e-cigarette use. After adjusting for age and sex, alcohol use (p<0.001), friend’s use (p<0.001), and other tobacco product or substance use (p:0.05) remained significantly associated with higher odds of e-cigarette use. There was no association between anxiety levels and e-cigarette use. Conclusion: These findings suggest a higher likelihood of e-cigarette use among alcohol consumers, poly-tobacco or substance users and individuals with friends who use e-cigarettes. Health providers and policy makers in Nigeria might consider preventive measures aimed at young adults with the identified risk factors, as well as close monitoring of trends in e-cigarette use in the coming years.

Educational interventions on oral health care is traditionally carried out mainly by oral health workers in Nigeria. Despite the introduction of the National Oral Health Policy, oral health services/education is virtually non-existent in PHC centres in Nigeria. This study sought to determine the effect of a health education intervention delivered by Community Health Officers (CHO) on the oral health knowledge and practices of mothers attending a PHC centre in Lagos State. A pre-experimental, Before- After study design was employed. An interviewer- administered questionnaire was administered at baseline to assess the oral health care knowledge and practices of 267 mothers who enrolled in the programme. After enrolling the participants, CHO’s previously trained commenced a health education intervention on oral health. The intervention, which consisted of 2 lecture sessions, a demonstration session and a return demonstration session, utilising flipcharts and health information leaflets spanned a six-month period. Oral health knowledge and practices of participating mothers was evaluated 3 and 6 months after the intervention commenced using a standardised checklist. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS version 20, P-value of <0.05 was considered significant. The mean oral health knowledge score at baseline was 4.58 (±1.37) while at 3-month and 6-month postintervention the mean scores were 4.68 (±0.97) and 4.96 (±0.49), respectively. There was a statistically significant increase (P=0.000) in the mean knowledge scores at 6 months post-intervention. Mothers who were 36 years or older and those with more than 12 years education displayed significantly better knowledge scores (P<0.05). Most (78.3%) reported using cotton wool or foam with water for their infants’ oral hygiene. By the second post-intervention visit, there was a significant change in the perception of the mothers on correct oral hygiene tool for infants (52.3%; P=0.000). Furthermore the percentage of mothers actually using toothbrush to clean their child’s mouth (98.1%; P=0.000) had increased. The oral health knowledge of the participants increased significantly following the intervention especially at the 6-month evaluation. PHC workers can successfully carry out oral health educational interventions at PHC level. The greatest value will occur with reinforced repetition of the messages.

Background: Common oral diseases are preventable and if detected early are reversible and schools provide a setting in which the oral health behavior of pupils can be influenced. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of using teachers in place of oral health professionals to deliver oral health education (OHE) in public secondary schools in Lagos State. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in four phases from September 2016-April 2017. A multistage sampling method was adopted to enlist the research participants from four enlisted schools, which were randomly assigned into two groups. Trained dentists delivered OHE in the first group of schools while trained teachers did in the second group and the impact of the intervention was assessed over six months. P values for significant differences were set at 0.05. Results: At the 3 months evaluation, the mean oral health knowledge (OHK) scores were higher among pupils in the Teachers Intervention Schools (TIS) (71.3 ± 19.3) than that in the Dentist Intervention Schools (DIS) (61.3 ± 17.7) (P = 0.023). Subsequent evaluation sessions from baseline revealed a gradual increase in the proportion of pupils with positive oral health attitude scores; with a higher proportion of pupils in the DIS (34.5%) compared to the TIS (34.0%) at 6 months assessment time. At 6 months evaluation, the proportion of pupils with poor oral health practices decreased in both groups of schools (P = 0.104). Conclusion: The proportion of pupils with good OHK was higher in the TIS at post-intervention periods; this difference was statistically significant at 3 months. This result suggests that teachers are as effective as dentists in delivering OHE.

COVID-19 infection is associated with oral lesions which may be exacerbated by tobacco smoking or e-cigarette use. This study assessed the oral lesions associated with the use of e-cigarettes, tobacco smoking, and COVID-19 among adolescents and young people in Nigeria. A national survey recruited 11–23-year-old participants from the 36 States of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Data were collected using Survey Monkey^®. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted. Statistical significance was set at p-value less than 0.05. There were 2870 participants, of which 386 (13.4%) were tobacco smokers, 167 (5.8%) e-cigarette users, and 401 (14.0%) were both e-cigarette and tobacco users; and 344 (12.0%) had ever tested positive to COVID-19. Adolescents and young people who smoked tobacco had more than twice the odds of reporting gingival inflammation, oral ulcers, dry mouth, and changes in taste than those who did not smoke. Those who used e-cigarettes had 1.5 times higher odds of reporting oral lesions. Respondents who had COVID-19 infection had higher odds of reporting gingival inflammation and lower odds of reporting dry mouth than those who did not have COVID-19 infection. These findings were significant, and may help clinicians to screen for tobacco use and COVID-19 among adolescents and young people in Nigeria.