Agbor A M, Azodo C C, Naidoo S
Odontostomatol Trop. 2015 Sep;38(151):21-30.
Ritual tooth mutilation is a relatively understudied human body mutilatory practices. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of ritual tooth modification, teeth cleaning measures and herbal medications for their oral health problems among the Baka pygmies in Cameroon.
This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and March, 2012 using semi-structured questionnaire as the tool of data collection. Intra-oral examinations were carried out to determine the dental hard tissue loss using Smith and Knight Tooth Wear Index (TWI).
Fifty-six pygmies with ritual tooth modification made of 34 males (60.7%) and 22 females (39.3%) with a mean age of 31 years were interviewed and had oral health examination. The reported age at which the tooth modification was done was between 10 and 15 years with mean age as 12 ± 1.66 years. More than half (58.9%) of the participants reported the tooth filing as painful and nearly two-thirds (64.3%) of the participants reported having persistent pain afterwards. The upper right central and lateral incisors were the most commonly modified teeth. A total of 42.9%, 12.5% and 7.1% of the participants had Smith and Knight TWI scores of 2, 3 and 4 respectively. All the participants reported cleaning their teeth at least once-daily with about two-thirds (66.1%) of them doing so with chewing stick. The majority (67.9%) of the participants reported cleaning their teeth for cosmetic reasons [to remove dirt' (60.7%) and 'to remove stains' (7.1%)]. The oral health problems among the participants in form of tooth sensitivity, toothache and dental abscess were treated with plant-based traditional medicines from Irvingia gabonensis, Ricinodendron heudoletti, Pterocarpus soyauxii, Alchornea cordifolia and Piptadeniastrum africanum.
Ritual tooth modification is a painful mutilatory practice which is culturally significant for the Baka pygmies without health benefit. There is need for intervention to stop this harmful traditional practices among the pygmies. Further studies is recommended to elucidate the medicinal and pharmaceutical benefits of plants used for tooth sensitivity and other oral health problems by the pygmies.
仪式性牙齿毁损是一种相对较少被研究的人体毁损行为。本研究的目的是调查喀麦隆巴卡俾格米人中仪式性牙齿修饰、牙齿清洁措施及草药治疗对其口腔健康问题的影响。
本横断面研究于2012年1月至3月进行，使用半结构化问卷作为数据收集工具。进行口腔内检查，采用史密斯和奈特牙齿磨损指数（TWI）确定牙齿硬组织丧失情况。
对56名有仪式性牙齿修饰的俾格米人进行了访谈并进行口腔健康检查，其中男性34名（60.7%），女性22名（39.3%），平均年龄31岁。报告的牙齿修饰年龄在10至15岁之间，平均年龄为12±1.66岁。超过一半（58.9%）的参与者报告牙齿锉磨时疼痛，近三分之二（64.3%）的参与者报告之后有持续疼痛。右上中切牙和侧切牙是最常被修饰的牙齿。分别有42.9%、12.5%和7.1%的参与者史密斯和奈特TWI评分为2、3和4。所有参与者均报告每天至少刷牙一次，约三分之二（66.1%）的人用咀嚼棒刷牙。大多数（67.9%）参与者报告刷牙是出于美容原因[“去除污垢”（60.7%）和“去除污渍”（7.1%）]。参与者中以牙齿敏感、牙痛和牙脓肿形式出现的口腔健康问题，用来自加蓬油桃木、赫氏毒籽树、索氏紫檀、心叶山麻杆和非洲腺荚木的植物性传统药物治疗。
仪式性牙齿修饰是一种痛苦的毁损行为，对巴卡俾格米人具有文化意义，但并无健康益处。需要进行干预以阻止俾格米人中这种有害的传统行为。建议进一步研究以阐明俾格米人用于治疗牙齿敏感和其他口腔健康问题的植物的药用和制药益处。
