Programme guidelines for promoting good oral health for children in Nigeria: a position paper
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Date
2014
Authors
Folayan, MO
Adeniyi, A.A
Chukwumah, N.M
Onyejaka, N
Esan, A.O
Sofola, O.O
Orenuga, O.O
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Oral Health
Abstract
Background: The objective of this paper is to draw attention to the oral health needs of children in Nigeria, and
promote the use of appropriate interventions for disease prevention in the population. It also evaluates the value
of the ongoing twice-daily tooth brushing campaign, which focuses on promoting good periodontal health and its
relevance for children in Nigeria.
Discussion: The main oral health burden for children in Nigeria is untreated dental caries, attributable to low
utilization of oral health facilities. While there is a strong association between oral hygiene status and caries occurrence,
no research had established an association between frequency of tooth brushing and caries in children in Nigeria.
Prevalence of caries and gingivitis is low, despite the fact that a majority of children brush once a day and most of
them have fair oral hygiene. Campaigns that promote twice daily brushing to prevent chronic periodontitis in children
are not driven by evidences supporting the local epidemic, and therefore cannot be considered as efficient use of the
limited resources available.
Summary: Existing evidences show that the main oral health need of children in Nigeria is the management of
untreated caries. Promoting the treatment of caries should be the primary focus of oral health programmes for
children in Nigeria, as this would reduce further risks of developing new carious lesions. Public health campaigns
should focus efforts at creating demand for oral health care services, for both preventive and curative purposes.
Description
Scholarly articles
Keywords
Nigeria, Children, Caries, Campaign, Evidence, Oral health promotion , Oral health promotion , Campaign , Children , Disease prevention , Research Subject Categories::ODONTOLOGY
Citation
Folayan et al.: Programme guidelines for promoting good oral health for children in Nigeria: a position paper. BMC Oral Health 2014 14:128.