Tooth and lip mutilation practices and associated tooth loss and oral mucosal lesions in the Makonde People of southeast Tanzania.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of tooth and lip mutilation (TLM) and the prevalence of tooth loss and the associated oral mucosal lesions among adults in south east Tanzania.

DESIGN

A cross sectional, clinical study and questionnaire administration.

SETTING

Rural population in southeast Tanzania.

SUBJECTS

Randomly selected 217 adults aged 40 years and older.

RESULTS

About 16% of all participants performed tooth mutilation. There were more females (20.6%) than males (11.3%) who performed tooth mutilation but the difference was not statistically significant. There was only about 17% of participants in the age group 40-54 years who performed tooth mutilation while there was 50% and 32% in the age groups 55-64 years and 65-95 years and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Tooth loss due to mutilation was significantly (P < 0.001) less than tooth loss due to other reasons in the anterior teeth and there was no tooth loss due to mutilation in the posterior teeth. Lip mutilation in form of piercing the upper lip and inserting a wooden stick called "ndonya" was found only in women. No oral mucosal lesions were found in this study group.

CONCLUSION

Tooth mutilation does not lead to significant tooth loss and lip mutilation and the use of "ndonya" does not cause oral mucosal lesions in this society. Extraction of anterior teeth due to other reasons was significantly higher than extraction following mutilation while in the posterior teeth there was no tooth loss due to tooth mutilation.