Assessment of Brushing Techniques in School Children and Its Association with Dental Caries, Omdurman, 2019

Child dental neglect and legal protections: a compendium of briefs from policy reviews in 26 countries and a special administrative region of China

Background

Child neglect is a public health, human rights, and social problem, with potentially devastating and costly consequences. The aim of this study was to: (1) summarize the oral health profile of children across the globe; (2) provide a brief overview of legal instruments that can offer children protection from dental neglect; and (3) discuss the effectiveness of these legal instruments.

Methods

We summarized and highlighted the caries profile and status of implementation of legislation on child dental neglect for 26 countries representing the World Health Organization regions: five countries in Africa (Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe), eight in the Americas (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Unites States of America, Uruguay), six in the Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), four in Europe (Italy, Latvia, Serbia, United Kingdom), two in South-East Asia (India and Indonesia) and one country (China) with its special administrative region (Hong Kong) in the Western Pacific.

Results

Twenty-five of the 26 countries have legal instruments to address child neglect. Only two (8.0%) of these 25 countries had specific legal instruments on child dental neglect. Although child neglect laws can be interpreted to establish a case of child dental neglect, the latter may be difficult to establish in countries where governments have not addressed barriers that limit children's access to oral healthcare. Where there are specific legal instruments to address child dental neglect, a supportive social ecosystem has also been built to facilitate children's access to oral healthcare. A supportive legal environment, however, does not seem to confer extra protection against risks for untreated dental caries.

Conclusions

The institution of specific country-level legislation on child dental neglect may not significantly reduce the national prevalence of untreated caries in children. It, however, increases the prospect for building a social ecosystem that may reduce the risk of untreated caries at the individual level. Social ecosystems to mitigate child dental neglect can be built when there is specific legislation against child dental neglect. It may be more effective to combine public health and human rights-based approaches, inclusive of an efficient criminal justice system to deal with child dental neglect.

Tooth brushing practice in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Oral hygiene refers to taking care and maintaining the cleanness of gum and teeth; a good oral hygiene practice promotes better oral health in general. Oral hygiene is the top public health concern of the population. Tooth brushing is a technique to keep oral hygiene from related complications. Therefore, this study provides the pooled prevalence of tooth brushing practice in Ethiopia. Databases searched for articles systematically across PubMed, Google Scholar, Hinari, EMBASE, and African Journals Online. Two reviewers independently conducted the selection, screening, reviewing, and data extraction using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and used the Joanna Briggs Institute prevalence critical appraisal tools to assess the quality of evidence. All studies conducted in Ethiopia from 2010 to 2020, reporting tooth-brushing practices extracted for and imported into the Comprehensive meta-analysis version 3.0 for further analysis. Beggs and Eggers's tests evaluated for publication bias with Higgins's method evaluated for heterogeneity. A random-effects meta-analysis model with a 95% confidence interval was computed to estimate the pooled effect size (prevalence). Furthermore, the authors employed subgroup analysis based on the study area and sample size. After reviewing 36, 10 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of tooth brushing practice was 12.2% (95% CI 7.6-19.2%). The review reported a lower level of tooth-brushing practice in Ethiopia. We recommended that special attention should be given to the oral hygiene of the Ethiopian people.