The Journal of the Dental Association of South Africa = Die Tydskrif van die Tandheelkundige Vereniging van Suid-Afrika最新文献

In 1993 a demonstration oral care programme to evaluate the ART procedure for dental caries under field conditions began among secondary school students in Greater Harare. The programme was preceded by an oral epidemiological survey. Of the 569 students examined, with a mean age of 13.9 years, 58.7 per cent were caries free. The mean DMFS and DMFT scores were 1.4 and 1.1, respectively. Very few missing and filled teeth were observed. Excluding those with pulp involvement, small dentinal lesions which could not be penetrated with an excavator at the time of examination, constituted 49 per cent of the mean DMFS score. 84 per cent of dentinal lesions needing treatment were judged to be treatable using the ART procedure. Using the index of Green and Vermillion (1964), the mean plaque score was 5.6 with substantial variation observed between the schools. Calculus was observed among 89.5 per cent of the students examined. 18 per cent of them had a central diastema in the maxilla. Crowding or spacing in the upper and lower anterior region of the jaws was observed in 67.5 per cent and 60.5 per cent of the students, respectively. 15.8 per cent were dissatisfied with the position of their teeth whilst 15 per cent indicated that they would like to undergo corrective treatment. It was concluded that these secondary students lack preventive and curative oral care and that the vast majority of the dentinal lesions observed could be treated using the ART procedure.

The WHO classification of odontogenic cysts includes the radicular (residual) and paradental (inflammatory collateral; mandibular infected buccal) cysts as inflammatory odontogenic cysts. Because the paradental group of inflammatory cysts may clinically cause diagnostic and therapeutic problems when they are associated with first and second molar teeth it was decided to review the literature and present an additional case. The aetiology and histological features of the inflammatory collateral cyst, the paradental cyst and the mandibular infected buccal cyst are identical and the differences that exist in their clinical and radiological presentation can be related to the different teeth that are involved and the difference in the ages at which these teeth erupt. These cysts represent the same entity and their treatment is dependent on the tooth involved. With the aid of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) the distinction between a paradental cyst on the buccal aspect of a molar tooth and a periodontitis can be made.

Maxillofacial and oral surgeons and orthodontists are currently treating an increasing number of black South African patients needing orthognathic surgical procedures. Surgical and orthodontic cephalometric analyses developed for caucasian populations has been shown to be inadequate for other racial groups (Connor and Moshiri, 1985, Briedenhann and Roos, 1988 and Flynn, Ambriogio and Zeichner, 1989). The purpose of this study was to evaluate mean measurements for black South African adults which would be comparable in diagnosis and treatment planning, to the analyses of Burstone et al., (1978) and Legan and Burstone (1980), known as Cephalometrics for Orthognathic Surgery (COGS). Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 15 male and 15 female black South African adults were evaluated for both hard and soft tissue measurements according to parameters of the COGS analyses. The results of this study showed that the cephalometric measurements established for North American caucasians by Burstone et al., (1978) and Legan and Burstone (1980) were at variance to those measurements found in a black South African population group. Thus orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment planning for black South Africans may be more relevant if the diagnosis is based on standard measurements specific for this particular racial group.

The socio-economic status of urbanised families throughout the world influences the caries experience of children. The higher the socio-economic status the lower the caries experience. Therefore, in surveys undertaken to determine caries experience of large communities it is necessary to take the above mentioned factor into consideration during the sampling process. It is, however, difficult and time consuming to classify individual children in terms of their socio-economic status. During a recent large scale survey in Port Elizabeth and Despatch, the whole area was divided into three socio-economic sub-sections decided on the basis of residential property values. All children attending school in a particular area was regarded as being from that particular socio-economic group. The results of the survey show that this method of classification into socio-economic groups yields similar results to those of more accurate methods of classification. The influence of the intervention by dental personnel on the caries experience, as expressed in the dmft and DMFT counts in 6-, 12- and 15-year-old children, is a matter of concern and needs further investigation.