Louw, AJUusiku, Happy-Joel2022-05-182024-04-162022-05-182024-04-162002https://hdl.handle.net/10566/11032Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent)In this thesis, oral health baseline data is established for the Omusati region. It is one of 13 regions in northern Namibia with a population of 244544 (census 1991). The population density is 18 people per square kilometer with a population growth rate of 3%. Comparisons are made of the relationship of data obtained from the survey, with results from the national oral health survey as well as recent findings from other parts of the country. It is argued that caries prevalence observed in populations in a particular area, are not reasonable estimates of caries In another similar area, populations of communities vary widely. DMFT figures derived from national Also, the value of mean oral health surveys IS questionable in relation to local policy development and therefore caries prevention strategies must be customized to specific needs of that community. During this survey 75 six to seven year olds, 75 twelve year olds and 75 fifteen year old school children from eight different location sites in the four districts of the Omusati region were examined. The total of all target groups was 300 children and was subdivided into rural and peri-urban groups and along gender lines. This study sample represented 0.12 % of the Omusati region population. The mean DMFT for the Omusati region was low (0.88) compared to a DMFT of 1.27 with the National survey. The mean DMFT (0.52) for 12-year-olds was lower than the DMFT (1.2) found in the national survey Priwe and Herunga (1997) and below the national target DMFT of 1.0. On average, 37.3% of the sample population had caries. More caries was found in the peri-urban population (30.6%) than in the rural population (20.4%) as observed by Schier (1993), Priwe and Herunga (1997). Thirty-three percent of the 12-year-olds and 29% of the 15-year-olds have untreated caries. No filled teeth were observed. Fifteen percent of the sample needed extraction, 6% needed preventive care, 19.3% needed one surface filling and 4.7% needed more than one surface filling. The mean observation per sextant for the total sample was 3.47 healthy and only 18% of the total sample had healthy gingiva. For the 12-yearolds, only 14% were found with healthy gingiva, 86% of them bled upon probing and 15% were found with calculus. The chewing stick is still used in the Omusati region (44.25%) and the toothbrush (42%) as previous researchers have pointed out. Parents were found to provide the bulk of the oral hygiene information to children while clinic sisters and teachers gave less information. Hence there is a need to train clinic staff and teachers on oral health. The malocclusion DAl score was 18.3, indicating no abnormality or only minor malocclusion and therefore of insignificant public importance. Only 2% of the sample was affected by fluorosis most of which fell in the questionable range. Sixty-five percent of the sample uses tap water and only 15.1 % used well water. The average fluoride concentration in water in the Omusati region is 0.4 7mg/1. Future regional strategy should call for the improvement of dental manpower and district dental clinics, as well as for health education to health workers, teachers and the community.enOral healthCariesPeriodontal diseaseFluorosisMalocclusionOral hygieneDietary habitsSchool childrenOmusati regionNamibiaUniversity of the Western Cape