Oral hygiene and periodontal treatment needs of urban school children compared with that of rural school children in Lagos State. Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the oral hygiene methods being used by the children in the urban and rural areas studied, the effect on their oral hygiene and the periodontal treatment needs of urban and rural school children.


METHODS
An urban and a rural local government area in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria.


METHODS
Cross-sectional and descriptive.


METHODS
1829 primary school children from primary one to six were selected from thirteen fee-paying and non fee-paying schools using a multistage random sampling. One thousand, and twenty-three (1023) children were examined in the urban area and eight hundred and six (806) children were examined in the rural area. The simplified oral hygiene index of Greene and Vermillion and the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment needs (CPITN) were used to assess the oral hygiene status and Periodontal treatment needs respectively.


RESULTS
205 (20%) of the children in the urban area use the toothbrush and toothpaste only and 84 (10.4%) of those in the rural area use only the toothbrush and toothpaste. 255 (31.6%) of the children in the rural area use only the chewing stick compared with 5 (0.5%) of the children in the urban area. Majority of the children use a combination of methods based on what is available. Children in the urban area had significantly better oral hygiene than those in the rural area but children from low social class in the urban area had significantly poorer oral hygiene than those from the high social clans. Majority of the children from the rural area and the low class urban area needed scaling and polishing. It was concluded that there is a need for improvement in oral hygiene of the children via oral health education. There is a greater need for middle level oral health manpower as the majority required scaling and polishing with oral hygiene instructions.
Sofola
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Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Shaba
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Jeboda
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SO
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000379:methods; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012923:Social Class; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*