Prevention of dental caries in Nigeria: A narrative review of strategies and recommendations from 1999 to 2019

Abstract

A BSTRACT Objectives: This narrative review aimed to show the approaches recommended for the prevention of dental caries in Nigeria by epidemiological surveys (P), primary preventive methods and strategies,( I) comparison preferred by experts (C) in the prevention of dental caries (O). Methods: An electronic literature search of some databases such as Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Google Scholar, African Journal Online (AJOL) and Medline was conducted using these keywords delimited by Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT: “dental caries” “prevention” “Nigeria. Epidemiological studies using WHO criteria published in English between 1999 and 2019 were included in this study. Results: All studies that met the inclusion criteria were epidemiological cross-sectional studies, non-clinic –based. The approaches recommended include need for continuous caries surveillance, preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatment. Conclusions: The recommended approaches should include continuous caries monitoring, comprehensive preventive and restorative programmes, primary prevention, use fluorides, oral health education and atraumatic restorative treatments in public schools and primary health care (PHC) centres. It is necessary to augment these approaches with undergraduate cariology curriculum review of dental schools, public-private partnership and oral health policy implementation with emphasis on prevention.

Prevalence and determinants of oral health conditions and treatment needs among slum and non-slum urban residents: Evidence from Nigeria

“…The combination of access to clean/ safe drinking water source and the use of fluoridated toothpaste by the majority of our study participants probably make up for the low fluoride content available in the regions' ground water. Therefore, there may be justification to shift focus to other causes of caries such as dietary [79], cleaning habits and other risk factors [80].…”

Dental health promotion among Nigerian school children: Why a priority

“…Take for example, caries; an oral disease affected 60–90% of school children worldwide [ 4 ]. Although conducting a meta-analysis in Nigeria is challenging due to the insufficient amount of research, subjects, and study quality [ 5 ], the national data on the prevalence of dental caries amongst children was carried out in 1995 and depicted a prevalence of about 30% in 12 year olds and 43% in 15 year olds respectfully [ 6 ]. These figures give an insight into the state of oral health in Nigeria which, to say the least, is appalling.…”

“…As analyzed above, global studies suggest that the prevalence of oral diseases is declining in high-income countries but less so in low-income countries. This is due to disparities in prevention-oriented oral health systems, the consumption of cariogenic foods, low fluoride exposure, access to oral health services, and lifestyle factors [ 5 ].…”

“…The option of primary prevention should be prioritized in low income countries to avoid discomfort, tooth loss, impediment, and to lower treatment costs. Nutritional considerations, dietary analysis, counseling, oral health education, plaque control, recall visits, oral prophylaxis, use of fluorides, fissure sealants, and other approaches such as non-traumatic restorative treatment, use of xylitol, dental caries vaccine, and probiotics are just a few of the many factors that go into oral disease prevention [ 5 ]. Oral health education, however, should be of primary focus to establish good oral health habits and knowledge.…”

“…The need for oral disease surveillance systems as part of oral health information systems cannot be overemphasized. For effective surveillance that can lead to the creation of community-based preventive initiatives, the World Health Organization Oral Health Country/Area Profile Programme (WHO/CAPP) recommends that country-based and frequent clinical oral health surveys be carried out every 5–6 years [ 5 ]. While this seems like a daunting task, it begins one school at a time.…”