Oral Health Status and Treatment Needs of Rastafarians in the Jamaican Population.

The Editor, Sir, Dental caries and gingivitis are considered to be the most common dental diseases. Dietary intake and oral hygiene practices play a major role in the development of these dental diseases. Rastafari is a cultural, religious movement that began in Jamaica and its adherents are known as Rastafarians or Rastas (1). Rastafarians often use herbs for medicinal purposes to strengthen and heal the body. Rastafarians disapprove of smoking cigarettes due to the serious health concerns associated with their use (2). This letter reports a pilot study of the oral health status and treatment needs of Rastafarians in a targeted segment of the Jamaican population. The study was based on the clinical examination of 17 volunteer participants from the Biennial Rastafarian Conference in Jamaica in 2013. The study was conducted at The University of the West Indies, Jamaica. A thorough history was taken, and clinical and systemic examinations were performed. The participants were examined for dental caries, fillings, extractions, malocclusions, crowns and root remnants. Decayed, missing, filled of permanent tooth (DMFT) index scores were calculated, and the treatment need was assessed. The results of the study were analysed by SPSS software version 19.0 (Armonk, NY) and presented as descriptive statistics. The age of the total study population ranged from 1–80 years, with a mean age of 46 years. Approximately one-quarter of the participants were in the age range of 71–80 years (23.52%; 4/17). Three minors were also numbered among the participants. The distribution by gender showed higher male subjects, 76.57% (13/17). The distribution of dental and oral disease in the study group showed higher prevalence of dental caries, 94.11% (16/17); gingivitis, 64.70% (11/17); periodontal problems, 58.82% (10/17); malocclusion, 23.53% (4/17); geographic tongue, 5.88% (1/17) and leukoplakia, 5.88% (1/17). The DMFT score of the present study suggests a higher total missing score, 174 (mean value 10.23), in comparison with total decayed score, 28 (mean value 5.00) and total filled score, 20 (mean value 1.17). The higher missing tooth value in the study is due to the increased elderly age group. Based on the DMFT score observation, a higher prosthodontic rehabilitation is required for the subjects. The treatment needs for the study group show a higher prosthodontic rehabilitation treatment need, 64.70% (11/17) and periodontal care, 64.70% (11/17); operative care/restorations, 47.05% (8/11); orthodontic care, 23.52% and oral cancer screening/diagnostics, 5.88%. The prosthodontic rehabilitation needs in the study group show full prosthesis requirement in 41.17% (7/17) and a need for multi-unit prosthesis in 23.50% (4/17). The study also recorded that 35.29% of the study population require full prosthesis, 17.64% require multi-unit prosthesis and 11.76% require a combination of one and/or multi-unit prosthesis. This confirms a higher prosthodontic rehabilitation (64.70%) is required in the study group. The major limitation of the study is the small sample size, which does not statistically represent the actual total of Rastafarians in Jamaica. The limited time frame to examine each subject was a constraint. A standard format of dietary style and personal lifestyle is required to correlate the oral health status with the Rastafarian population, since dental caries can be prevented by healthful dietary and good oral hygiene behaviours (3). In conclusion, the study points to a possible higher requirement of prosthodontic rehabilitation for the Rastafarian elders in the Jamaican population. Practising dental surgeons need to be updated with the treatment options for geriatric prosthodontic care. Special encouragement for periodontal disease awareness and intervention to the geriatric population is stressed.