Background: Nylon teeth myth is a belief of associating infant illnesses with bulges on infants' alveolus that mark the positions of underlying developing teeth and that it is necessary to treat the condition mainly by traditional healers to prevent infant death. The traditional treatment often leads to serious complications that may lead to infant death. Although the government instituted educational campaigns against the myth in 1980s to 1990s, to date, repeated unpublished reports from different parts of the country indicate continued existence of the myth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and tissue contraction after injury can lead to esthetic and functional problems. Fibroblasts and myofibroblasts activated by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 play a key role in these processes. The persistence of (myo)fibroblasts and their excessive ECM production and continuous wound contraction have been linked to pathological scarring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dental trauma is common among children, and the maxillary permanent central incisors are the most often affected teeth.
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for injury to maxillary permanent incisors and the upper lip among Tanzanian schoolchildren aged 8-14 years.
Design: A cross-sectional study involving 1119 children.
Occlusal characteristics and anomalies were studied among 869 (428 boys, 441 girls) Tanzanian Bantu children aged 3.5-16 years and 706 (319 boys, 387 girls) Finnish children aged 5-11 years during different emergence stages of the permanent dentition. Various occlusal variables were registered according to described criteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop
April 2004
The aim of this study was to assess the opinions of Tanzanian children on dental attractiveness and their perceptions of orthodontic treatment need in relation to their own dental attractiveness as measured by the aesthetic component (AC) of the index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN). In a random sample of 386 school children (48% boys, 52% girls), aged 9 to 18 years, the subjective need was assessed by using a prestructured questionnaire, and attractiveness was scored by using 18 intraoral frontal photographs. Orthodontic treatment need was measured with the IOTN, and 11% of the children definitely needed orthodontic treatment (grades 8-10 of the AC with 4-5 of the dental health component [DHC]).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the emergence of permanent teeth among Tanzanian children.
Methods: A total of 869 Tanzanian children were recruited from 16 schools in age groups 3.5-5, 6.