OBJECTIVES:The only partial mouth index that has been validated against full-mouth examinations in the East African population is the CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs). Since the Ramfjord index can potentially shorten the examination time by almost half, we evaluated Ramfjord teeth in predicting full-mouth periodontal status of an adult population in Tanzania.MATERIAL AND METHODS:Pocket depth was measured for 192 consecutive patients aged from 15 to 77 years (36 years old on average); 86 (45%) females referred to the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania between January 1997 and December 1999, and the mean pocket depth for full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was calculated.RESULTS:The correlation between the mean pocket depth calculated from the full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was 0.96. The beta coefficient for the mean pocket depth measured by Ramfjord teeth to predict the full-mouth mean was 0.94, and was not affected by adjustment for age, missing teeth or sex.CONCLUSION:This overall high agreement between Ramjford teeth and full-mouth periodontal pocket situation confirms the epidemiological validity of Ramfjord's dental sample in our setting.

AIM:To investigate the types and magnitude of post extraction complications.SETTING:A referral hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.SUBJECTS:All dental patients who had their teeth extracted at the Muhimbili Medical Centre dental outpatient clinic during the study period (May September 1999). A total of 3,818 extractions were performed under local anaesthetic in 3,732 patients.METHOD:Oral examination of all patients who reported back with post-extraction problems.RESULTS:The frequency of post extraction complications was low (1.1 per cent), and was mainly due to; infected sockets (48.7 per cent), followed by bleeding sockets (41.0 per cent) and retained roots (10.3 per cent). There were eight 'other' complications suffered by 11 patients: necrotising fasciitis (n=l), herpes zoster (n=l), Ludwig's angina (n=l), infections of the submandibular (n=l), parapharyngeal (n=2), masticator (n=2) and submasseteric spaces (n =2), and reaction to local anaesthesia (2ml of 2 per cent lignocaine hydrochloride) (n=1).CONCLUSION:The results of this study indicate that post-extraction complications are few, mostly minor, self-limiting and easily treatable. The study does not support routine antibiotic prophylaxis or special pre-extraction procedures, even in this patient population with poor oral hygiene and high HIV seroprevalence.

OBJECTIVEThe objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cost-sharing, introduced in July 1994, on the utilisation of dental services in Tanzania.METHODSThe study compared dental attendance, demand for dental services and treatment pattern of patients in 17 out of 20 regions of mainland Tanzania in 1993 and 1995, a year before and after the introduction of user fees.OUTCOMES MEASURESDental attendance and demand for treatment.RESULTSResults revealed a 33.2 per cent overall reduction in dental attendance but no effect on either the demand for treatment or treatment pattern. The exceptions were increases in referral cases by 14.5 times and prosthetic work by 3.9 times, and a reduction in surgical cases by 18.8 per cent.CONCLUSIONSIn order to improve attendance and decrease referrals it is necessary to enforce the first line of oral primary health care to meet the simple treatment demands. Furthermore, the revenue generated by cost-sharing should be used to improve services.

A 38-year-old woman sought treatment with cranio-facial dysplasia involving the cranium, maxilla and the mandible. Her chief complaint was a mandibular swelling, which had appeared about 2 years previously, had gradually enlarged, and was associated with spontaneous pain. X-ray film examination revealed a ground-glass opacity with blurred demarcation and a 99 Tc medronate bone scan disclosed an increase in tracer uptake in the cranium, maxilla and mandible. The rest of the skeleton was not affected. Histological examination of the lesions revealed solid proliferation of spindle-shaped cells associated with islands of osteid and bone trabecullae with Chinese letter pattern and numerous multinucleated giant cells consistent with fibrous dysplasia. The continued osteoblastic activity of involved bones, coupled with the medical condition of the patient, restricted the management of the patient to largely supportive and palliative care.

Ten years after completion of the first national oral health survey, a second national oral health survey was carried out in 1995. Application of a multi-stage sampling procedure resulted in 3,709 persons being examined. WHO's oral health assessment form and CPITN index was used. The background variables studied were age (15-19, and 35-44-year olds), gender, type of location, socio-economic status and level of education. Results suggest that the periodontal health of adolescents was better in 1985 than in 1995. Overall, the prevalence of periodontal conditions in both age groups was high but its severity was low. The need for complex periodontal treatment was only 4 per cent for adults. The survey has shown that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are not receiving and/or are not seeking periodontal care.

Necrotising fasciitis is a soft tissue infection, usually polymicrobial, characterised by necrosis of fascia and subcutaneous tissue. It frequently involves the groin, abdomen and extremities, but rarely involves the cervico-facial region. A case is presented of a 70-year old man who, following a futile attempt to extract a lower left first molar, developed a cervico-facial necrotising faciitis with facial nerve paralysis. Bacteriological investigations revealed the presence of Klebsiella spp and viridans streptococci. It is emphasized that early detection of this disease followed by aggressive surgical debridement and antibiotic therapy are most important.

Ten years after completion of the first national oral health survey, the second such survey was carried out in 1995. Application of a multi-stage sampling procedure resulted in 3,709 persons being examined according to the WHO oral health assessment form and criteria. The background variables studied were age, gender, type of location, socio-economic status. Comparison with results from major studies in other African nations are presented. It was concluded that the prevalence of dental caries in all age groups was high but that the severity was low. The prevalence of unmet treatment needs was very high with extraction as the predominant mode of treatment. The survey has shown that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are not receiving and/or are not seeking oral care.

We designed a study to assess the nutritional status of children under five years of age attending MCH clinics in Dar es Salaam. This was a cross-sectional anthropometric study involving children 6-24 months who from July to August 1993 were attending Magomeni MCH clinic and those aged 18 months to five years who were attending Lugalo and Mwananyamala MCH clinics for routine growth monitoring and for vaccination between May to August 1994. The data collected included age, birthweight, sex, weight, height, breastfeeding status and HIV-1 serostatus. Of the 1854 children enrolled (961 boys and 893 girls) 31.6% were stunted, 14.6% were underweight and 2.9% were wasted. The highest percentage of stunting and wasting was observed between 11 and 25 months and 36 to 40 months. Of the 849 children tested for HIV-1, 14 (1.7%) were seropositive and two out of 770 (0.3%) were born with low weight. HIV seropositivity and low birthweight were both associated with stunting and wasting. We conclude that malnutrition is still a sizeable problem among children attending urban MCH clinics in Dar es Salaam especially among those aged less than three years, to whom special malnutrition control strategies should be targeted. There is also a need to identify factors responsible for the observed decline in MCH attendance with age and correct the situation.

The objective was to determine whether there is an association between carriage of oral yeasts, malnutrition and HIV-1 infection among Tanzanian children. A case-control study design within a cross-sectional study was used, and the outcome was carriage of oral yeasts. The exposure variables were malnutrition and HIV-1 antibody, and confounders to be adjusted for were age, sex, and breastfeeding. The study was carried out in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in two maternal and child health (MCH) clinics that offer routine medical checkups to all expectant mothers and children aged between 0 and 5 years in the catchment area. A total of 882 children aged between 18 months and 5 years participated. Smears from the tongue and buccal mucosa were examined for oral yeasts. Malnutrition was categorized according to standards on the MCH chart and World Health Organization/Centers for Disease Control (WHO/CDC) standards as weight-for-height (wasted), weight-for-age (underweight), and height-for-age (stunted). HIV-1 infection was determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Reactive sera were confirmed by Western Blot. About 27% of the children were slightly or severely malnourished according to standards on the MCH chart. According to WHO/CDC standards, 2.6% were wasted, 16.3% were underweight, and 29.6% were stunted. Fourteen (1.6%) were seropositive for HIV-1 antibody. Hyphal forms and blastospores were much more frequent among children infected with HIV-1 with odds ratios ranging from 3.8 (95% CI: 1.3;11.2) to 6.2 (95% CI: 2.1;18.4) depending on categorization of malnutrition. Malnutrition was a risk factor, too, albeit to a much lesser and insignificant degree. The study supports our previous findings that malnutrition may predispose to carriage of oral yeasts and subsequent infection. However, in this study population HIV infection was clearly the predominant risk factor.

The present study, based on 158 HIV seropositives and 167 HIV seronegatives, demonstrates that saliva collected with the Omni-SAL device and tested with GACELISA (an IgG antibody capture ELISA) is an effective non-invasive alternative to serum for anti-HIV IgG antibody screening. The study also shows that a conventional serum Western blot kit can be used, with slight modifications, for confirmatory testing of saliva specimens. Collecting saliva with the Omni-SAL device had a very good acceptance rate among Tanzanian subjects, and although this diagnostic method is not yet known by the general public, 65% of the study participants preferred to give saliva instead of blood for HIV testing.

Although biotypes of Candida albicans from adult populations, especially in the West, have been described, there are no data either from a child population, or from the African continent. Hence a total of 200 oral C. albicans isolates from Tanzanian children aged 6–24 months were biotyped using two commercially available API micromethod kit systems and a boric acid resistance test. The predominant biotypes, which comprised two thirds of the organisms isolated, were J1S (19.5%), A1S (16.0%), J1R (14.5%), A1R (9.5%) and P1R (7.5%). In total, 16 new biotypes comprising 44 (22%) isolates which have not hitherto been described were found in this Tanzanian population and, of these, the P1R biotype predominated with 15 (7.5%) isolates. There was no significant association between predominant biotypes (with clusters ≤15 isolates) and age, gender, breast feeding and malnutrition. These data indicate that the biotype profile of C. albicans isolates may differ in paediatric and adult populations, and/or global distribution of various subtypes of this common opportunistic pathogen.

OBJECTIVE:To determine if there is an association between carriage of oral yeasts and malnutrition in infants.DESIGN:A case-control study within a cross-sectional study. The dependent variable was carriage of oral yeasts. The exposure variable was malnutrition and confounders to be adjusted for were age, sex, and breast-feeding.SETTING:A maternal and child health clinic in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania that offers routine medical check-ups to all expectant mothers and children aged between 0 and 5 years in its catchment areas.SUBJECTS AND METHODS:972 infants aged 6-24 months participated. Smears from the tongue and cheek mucosa were examined for candidal hyphae and blastospores. Malnutrition was categorized according to Tanzanian standards (weight-for-age) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards (weight-for-height and height-for-age).MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:Carriage of oral yeasts (hyphae and blastospores).RESULTS:Carriage of oral yeasts was significantly higher in the 227 malnourished compared with the 745 well nourished adjusted for confounders. Odds ratio for presence of hyphae in smears from the severely malnourished (weight-for-age) was 4.5 (90% CI: 2.0-10.0). Odds ratio for presence of hyphae was 2.3 (90% CI: 1.1-4.8) when weight-for-height were used to categorize for malnutrition.CONCLUSION:The study tends to confirm the generally held view that malnutrition may predispose to carriage of oral yeasts and subsequent oral candidiasis.

HIV-1 can be recovered sporadically from whole saliva and individual salivary gland secretions, but the concentration of virus, when present, is low. Saliva possesses antiviral activity, and although virus may be found in the mouth, the mouth is not a transmission route of HIV-1. After HIV-1 infection, salivary gland function is altered. Flow rates may decrease, and certain electrolytes and anti-microbial proteins are elevated. A proportion of patients develop severe salivary gland disease. Most patients, however, maintain adequate salivary gland function and retain ability to produce antimicrobial proteins in saliva.