title: A survey of teething beliefs and related practices among child healthcare workers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the perceptions/beliefs and related practices of child healthcare workers regarding teething problems in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study consisted of 103 out of 140 child healthcare workers at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex who responded to a structured self-administered questionnaire. The child healthcare workers comprised dentists, paediatricians, community health physicians, pharmacists and community health nurses. The data were analysed using STATA (Intercooled release 9) for Windows.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 77 (74.8%) child healthcare workers believed in systemic signs and symptoms of teething in children. A majority of the dentists (79.3%) and pharmacists (96.2%) believed in teething problems. None of them based their belief on evidence-based scientific principles, but instead on personal experience (36.4%), books (26%), local myths (20.8%) and school/workshop (16.8%). Fever (18.2%) and diarrhoea (15.6%) were the most prevalent symptoms and signs believed to be associated with teething. Fifty-seven of the child healthcare workers routinely prescribed various drugs for teething problems. The most prescribed drugs were paracetamol (70.2%), antibiotics (14.0%) and teething mixture (7.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most child healthcare workers in the study believed in teething problems and the beliefs were not based on evidence. They also prescribed various drugs for teething problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Dental Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun-State, Nigeria. elioziegbe@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth Obhioneh
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Oziegbe
authors.forename: Temitope Ayodeji
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Esan
authors.forename: Comfort Ayodele
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Adekoya-Sofowora
authors.forename: Merenike Oluwatoyin
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Folayan
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000627:therapeutic use; D058633:Antipyretics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002662:Child Health Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013483:Superstitions; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014078:Tooth Eruption
chemical_list: D058633:Antipyretics; D000082:Acetaminophen