Oral disease burden amongst residents of an internally displaced persons camp in Nigeria

Objective: To assess the prevalence of oral diseases and conditions amongst residents of an isolated camp that caters for internally displaced persons to define their oral health need in order to facilitate surveillance and planning of interventional programmes. Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out among randomly selected residents of a camp at Uhogua village forest reserve, Edo State, Nigeria. Socio-demographic data was obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Oral examination was carried out under natural illumination using mouth mirror, wooden spatula and blunt dental explorer. Oral hygiene was graded using Simplified Oral Hygiene Index. Diagnoses of caries and periodontal disease were according to the World Health Organization criteria. Clinical diagnosis of oral lesions/conditions was by visual inspection. IBM SPSS version 25.0 was used for descriptive and inferential analysis at 95% confidence interval with p set at < 0.05 significance. Results: The mean age of the 437 study participants was 15.81 ± 8.42 with a range of 4 - 71 years. Males (43.0%), females (57.0%) and participants with primary education (78.7%). Only 3.4% of the study participants had good oral hygiene and 11.9% of the group had periodontal pockets. Dental caries prevalence was 19.7%. The DMFT/dmft index value was 0.33/0.13 with PUFA/pufa score of 0.06/0.02. However, 35.0% of permanent teeth and 79.0% of deciduous teeth had evidence of dento-oral infection and ulceration. The prevalence of oral ulcers (1.8%), leukoplakia (2.1%), erythroplakia (0.5%), oral candidiasis (5.3%), cleft palate (0.2%) and traumatic dental injury (4.3%). were noted. Lower educational attainment was associated with presence of periodontal pockets (p=0.029) and dental caries (p=0.004). Conclusion: Poor oral hygiene was prevalent in this group. Although the prevalence of oral diseases and conditions were low in comparison with previous local studies, many of the carious lesions had signs of dento-oral infections. Improved access to education with a significant oral health education content and preventive oral health services are recommended strategies in reducing the oral health challenges of this group.