Biomedical subjects

R Lalloo

Publications and source records attributed to R Lalloo.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1999

Dental caries status of 5-7 year old children in three districts in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.

This paper presents the baseline data of a longitudinal study assessing the dental caries status of 5-7 year old children in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. Approximately one hundred 5-7 year-old-children from randomly selected schools in each of three locations (formal urban, informal urban and rural) were examined using the 1997 WHO Oral Health Survey Criteria. Thirty nine percent of the entire sample were found to bc caries-free, however this differed from location to location and from country to country. The overall mean dmft was 2.4 (SD 2.8), with the decayed component being 2.0 and the missing component 0.4. Of the children examined, only three had filled teeth. The mean dmft was significantly higher (p-value < 0.05) in Tanzania and Uganda than in Mozambique. There were also significant differences in the mean dmft between the various locations in Uganda and Mozambique. The prevalence of dental caries was not consistent across the formal urban, informal urban and rural locations in the three countries studied. It is thus essential to desegregate oral health status data to the most local level possible.

Child↗

PubMed1998

A comparison of dental caries status by surface and treatment needs of 5-7 year old children in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.

This paper presents the baseline data of a longitudinal study assessing the dental caries status by surface and the treatment needs of 5-7 year old children in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. Approximately one hundred 5-7 year old children were examined from randomly selected schools in each of three locations (urban formal, urban informal and rural) in each country. The mean dmfs score for the entire sample was 5.1 (7.5), with the mean number of decayed surfaces being 3.4 and missing surfaces 1.7. The mean dmfs score was significantly higher (p-value < 0.05) in Uganda, especially in the urban informal location. The teeth most commonly decayed were the lower molars and upper central incisors. Most of the teeth decayed needed to be extracted. The findings in this study correlate with the few other studies assessing dental caries by surface in east and southern African countries.

Child↗

PubMed1997

Oral disease in Africa: a challenge to change oral health priorities.

Colonial and other unsustainable oral health strategies exported to Africa have failed to improve oral health in the region. An alternative way of interpreting and responding to the problems of oral health in Africa is presented. It begins with a systematic interpretation of the health information available, using the application of the basic epidemiological principle of defining a specific health problem by describing its prevalence, severity (morbidity, mortality) and age adjusted distribution in the population. African oral disease priorities determined in this way are shown to be fundamentally different from those perceived previously. It is recommended that this new approach be used in customising a viable set of oral health policies and intervention strategies for each individual African community.

Africa↗

PubMed1994

An evaluation of a school-based comprehensive public oral health care programme.

This study evaluates a comprehensive oral health care programme seven years after it started in 1986 at a public dental health clinic in Cape Town. Five primary schools served by the clinic were selected for a community trial. Three schools were randomly allocated to receive the programme and two to a non-participating control group. An evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the programme was carried out by comparing the mean DMFS scores of the experimental (programme) schools with control (non-programme) schools. One hundred and ten children who entered the programme in 1986 and 102 non-programme children of similar age were examined and compared in 1992. In the experimental group the mean DMFS score was 1.94 compared to a mean DMFS of 6.12 in the control group. The percentage of caries-free children in the experimental group was 62.5 per cent and in the control group 37.5 per cent. The frequency distribution of the DMFS scores showed that one subject from the programme group had a score of > or = 15 and thirteen non-programme subjects had scores > or = 15. All the comparisons between the two groups reported above were highly significant (P < 0.005). The study shows that the programme has been very effective in reducing the prevalence of dental caries in the schools that received the programme.

Black or African American↗