A case is presented to illustrate the difficulties
encountered in the clinical diagnosis of an intraocular mass. The fundus was not visible ophthalmoscopically because of opaque media. The anterior surface of the iris showed three discrete hyperpigmented nodular patches. Ultrasound showed an intraocular mass occupying half the posterior segment. The eye did not have useful vision and was enucleated after a clinical diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the choroid was made. The eye did not contain a melanoma but an organised blood clot after an extensive vitreous haemorrhage because of systemic hypertension.
Singapore is an island republic of 616 km2. Four main ethnic groups make up its population of 2.4 million; these are the Chinese, Malays, Indians and others. Singapore's successful housing, industrialization and modernization programmes have caused tremendous changes in the lifestyles and expectations of the people. This very success has rendered some traditional customs impractical and irrelevant. Older Indians and Malay women still chew betel-nut. During the Hindu Thaipusam ceremony a traditional practice of dental interest is the piercing of devotees' cheeks and tongues with slivers of silver. There is no pain, bleeding or permanent tissue damage. The Chinese pick their teeth, crack melon seeds and scrape their tongues every morning. They also drink large quantities of unsweetened tea. Yet they remain caries-prone. Singaporeans have recently adopted the practice of eating at all hours of the day and night. This may have a bearing on their future caries state. Singapore has two categories of dental practitioner: the graduate and the registered but unqualified dentist who is invariably of Chinese descent. The swaged metal crown over sound and diseased tooth structure is frequently the unfortunate trademark of the latter. Often abscesses and cysts develop beneath these crowns. Successful dental health programmes have produced a DMFT of 2.8 in 12-year-old children, which betters the DMF target of 3.0 set by WHO for the year 2000. The progressive outlook of Singaporeans may eventually reduce further the number of traditional practices which are harmful to oral health.
Three epidemiological surveys have been carried out in Malaysia since 1971. All showed a high level of caries prevalence. Ninety per cent of school children between the ages of 6 and 18 suffered from dental caries, with a DMFT of approximately 3 and a dft of approximately 2. Ninety-five per cent of the adult population had caries experience, with the mean DMFT being 13.2. Approximately 55 per cent of children showed the presence of gingivitis with the mean number of inflamed gingival units per child ranging from 1.9 to 2.8, while 72.4 per cent of adults had some form of periodontal disease with 29 per cent having pockets deeper than 3 mm. The OHI-S score for adults was 2.2 and 81 per cent used toothbrushes to clean their teeth. A further 5.1 per cent used twigs and fingers with powdered charcoal or salt. One-third of the child population needed orthodontic treatment, with 0.3 per cent examined in peninsular Malaysia having cleft lip or palate or both. In the adult population 10.4 per cent of those examined required some form of orthodontic treatment. Twenty per cent of the children in the survey were in need of dentures; 54.7 per cent of the adults were either in need of dentures or were wearing dentures. Of these 25 per cent had complete dentures. The smoking habit was most commonly associated with pre-cancerous/cancerous lesions with alcohol consumption a close competitor; 114 adults, that is 1.3 per cent of those examined, suffer from leukoplakia but only one case of oral cancer was detected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Child; Child Health Services; Dental Caries/epidemiology; Dental Health Services; Education; Health Services; Humans; Jaw, Edentulous/epidemiology; Jaw, Edentulous, Partially/epidemiology; Malaysia; Middle Aged; Mouth Neoplasms/epidemiology; Oral Health*; Oral Hygiene; Periodontal Diseases/epidemiology; Population
MeSH terms: Africa; Americas; Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Automatic Data Processing*; Brazil; Computers*; Data Collection*; Demography*; Developing Countries*; Family Planning Services*; Health Planning; Information Services*; Information Systems*; Latin America; Malaysia; Organization and Administration; Population*; Research; Social Sciences; Software*; South America; Information Storage and Retrieval*; Africa South of the Sahara; Developed Countries*
United Nations. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ESCAP. Population Division, United Nations. Department of International Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division. International Population Information Network POPIN
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; China; Communication*; Developing Countries; Economics; Far East; Financial Management; Geography; Health Planning Guidelines*; Health Services Accessibility; Health Services Needs and Demand*; India; Indonesia; Information Services*; International Agencies*; Korea; Malaysia; Organization and Administration; Organizations; Philippines; Population Control; Research*; Sri Lanka; Teaching; Thailand; United Nations*; Vietnam; Program Development*
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Bottle Feeding*; Breast Feeding*; Delivery of Health Care; Demography; Developing Countries; Ethnic Groups; Family Planning Services; Health; Health Facilities; Health Planning; Hospitals*; India; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*; Legislation as Topic*; Malaysia; Maternal Age; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Parity; Patient Acceptance of Health Care*; Population; Population Dynamics; Reproduction; Research; Social Class; Socioeconomic Factors; Statistics as Topic*; Time Factors*; Postpartum Period*
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Birth Rate*; Demography; Developing Countries; Ethnic Groups; Evaluation Studies as Topic*; Family Planning Services; Fertility*; Health Planning; India; Malaysia; Organization and Administration; Patient Acceptance of Health Care*; Population; Population Control*; Population Dynamics; Program Evaluation*
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Behavior*; Birth Rate; Bottle Feeding*; Breast Feeding*; Communication; Data Collection*; Demography; Developing Countries; Ethnic Groups; Evaluation Studies as Topic*; Family Characteristics; Family Planning Services; Family Relations; Fertility; Health; Health Education; Health Planning; Health Services Needs and Demand; Health Services Research*; India; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*; Malaysia; Mothers*; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*; Organization and Administration; Parents; Parity*; Patient Acceptance of Health Care*; Population; Population Characteristics; Population Dynamics; Pregnancy*; Pregnancy Trimester, Third*; Psychology*; Reproduction; Research; Sampling Studies; Urban Population*; Program Evaluation; Knowledge*