Introduction: Appropriate oral health knowledge is essential to enable parents to be responsible for the oral health care of their children especially those with special needs. This study aimed to determine the oral health knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of parents and cariogenic food intake of their non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate children (NSCLP) compared to non-cleft children.
Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected parents with children aged 1 to 6 years at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and Kota Bharu Dental Clinic. A face-to-face interview using a validated questionnaire on oral health KAP and cariogenic food intake of their children was done. Data were analysed by using IBM SPSS version 22.0.
Results: Sixty-four Malay parents with NSCLP (n=33) and non-cleft (n=31) children were recruited. The mean (SD) percentage score of oral health knowledge of parents in both groups (NSCLP and non-cleft) was fair, 59.5%(11.85) and 62.0%(15.00), P=0.4722; oral health attitude was good, 78.0% (9.30) and 80.2% (15.40), P=0.504; but oral health practice was poor 33.8% (5.94) and 36.1 (8.44), P=0.220. The cariogenic food frequency score was significantly higher in noncleft children; 40.2(10.32) compared to NSCLP children, 34.8(9.46), P=0.032.
Conclusions: Parents of both groups had fair knowledge and good attitude but poor oral health practice. Cariogenic foods were consumed more by the non-cleft children. Oral health awareness among the parents needs to be strengthened towards good oral health attitude and practice and non-cariogenic food choices for the betterment of oral health status of their children.
Dental caries is the main oral health problem in hearing-impaired (HI) children and remains the most neglected need. The present study aimed to determine caries prevalence and treatment needs in HI children and the association with salivary parameters. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 63 HI children aged between 7-14 years who attended a special school for the deaf. Clinical oral examination was done and salivary parameters (resting flow rate and resting pH) were measured. Caries experience was charted using the index of decay-filled teeth (dft) and Decay-Missing-Filled Teeth (DMFT) for primary and permanent dentition respectively. Data were analysed using SPSS version 12.0. The mean age was 11.5 (SD 2.39) years and 53.8% were female. Dental caries prevalence was 88.0% (95% Cl: 73.0, 100.0) in primary dentition and 85.0% (95% Cl: 73.0, 96.0) in permanent dentition. The mean dft was 6.1 (SD 4.14) and the mean DMFT was 4.9 (SD 3.28). The mean resting flow rate was 0.14 (SD 0.08) ml/min while mean pH was 6.8 (SD 0.79). Both pit and fissure sealants and restorations were the highest (83.1%) treatment needs. Only 3.1% of the children did not require any treatment. There were no significant association between both salivary flow rate and salivary pH with caries experience in the primary (p=0.342, p=0.610 respectively) and permanent (p= 0.99, p=0.70 respectively) teeth. In conclusion, children with HI have high caries prevalence and unmet need for dental treatments. Salivary pH and resting flow rate of the children were not associated with their caries experience.
Prolonged work with highly repetitious flexion and extension of the wrist and forceful grip task were shown to increase the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) among dental personnel. The present study was carried out to determine the prevalence, risk factors and coping strategies of probable CTS among clinical dental support staff in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). A cross-sectional study was conducted and a set of questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic status, work-related and psychosocial risk factors and coping strategies was distributed. Ninety-five clinical dental support staff completed and returned the questionnaire with a response rate of 80.5%. The prevalence of probable CTS was 38.9%, with the highest prevalence was found among dental surgery assistants (40.5%) followed by dental technologists (29.7%). There was no significant association between work-related or psychosocial risk factors with probable CTS (p>0.05). Most of the respondents with symptoms of CTS chose religion as the coping mechanism; mean 7.11 (SD 1.13). Awareness training should be emphasized among clinical dental support staff on the prevention of CTS.
Study site: Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM)
Many studies have indicated that hearing-impaired (HI) children have poor oral hygiene mainly
contributed by difficulties in communication. The objectives of the study were to assess the difficulties
experienced by HI children during dental visit and the effectiveness of “Oral Health Care for the HearingImpaired”
(OCHI) programme in improving the oral health knowledge and practice, and reducing the dental
plaque maturity scores among HI children. A community intervention study was conducted and training of trainers
(TOT) was done to train the teachers in delivering oral health education (OHE) and practices by using developed
booklet and video. The difficulties faced by the HI children during dental visit, and the oral health knowledge and
practice (OHKP) were assessed by face-to-face interview with HI children whilst the dental plaque maturity was
assessed using GC Tri Plaque ID Gel™ (TPID) during pre-intervention, post-intervention-1 and postintervention-2.
Data were analysed using SPSS version 22. Among the teachers, there was an increase in the
mean (SD) total knowledge and attitude score during post-TOT compared to pre-TOT, 46.1 (2.44) and 43.7
(4.01); (p
Objective: The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of a one and a half year educational intervention on the job dissatisfaction of teachers in 30 Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) centres in Kelantan, Malaysia, and to identify the factors influencing changes in job dissatisfaction following the intervention. Method: Ten educational modules were administered to the teachers. A validated Malay version of Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) was used pre intervention, mid intervention and post intervention. Result: Repeated Measure ANOVA revealed there was a statistically significant reduction in the mean of job dissatisfaction (p = 0.048). Multiple Linear Regression revealed that co- worker support (β= 0.034 (95% CI = 0.009, 0.059)), having less decision authority (β: -0.023; 95% CI: -0.036, -0.01) and being single (β: -0.107; 95% CI: -0.176,-0.038) were significantly associated with decreases in job dissatisfaction. Conclusion: The intervention program elicited improvement in job satisfaction. Efforts should be made to sustain the effect of the intervention in reducing job dissatisfaction by continuous support visits to CBR centres.