Prevalence of Primary Tooth Extraction and Its Associated Factors Among Under-Five-Year-Old Children in Debre Tabor Town, North-Central Ethiopia: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction

In Ethiopia, primary tooth extraction is a process of pulling out of an infant’s healthy primary teeth by traditional healers or family members. Traditional healers use unsterile equipment to perform teeth extraction blindly, as a result, the child is prone to different life-threatening complications such as anemia and infectious blood-borne diseases. Despite all of these consequences, it is one of the neglected health problems, especially for developing countries. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of primary tooth extraction among under-five year’s children in Debre Tabor Town, Northcentral Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 370 participants, from March 2020 to April 2020 in Debre Tabor town. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select study participants. The data were collected by using a semi-structured pretested questionnaire via face-to-face interviews. The data was exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Both binary and multiple logistic regression have been used to observe the association between the outcome variable with each independent variable. Finally, a 95% confidence interval was computed and variables with P-value ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

The prevalence of primary teeth extraction among under-five-year children in Debre Tabor town was found to be 11.1% [95% CI: 7.8–14.2]. Being able to read and write in educational status [AOR: 3.97 (1.20–13.09)], having a mother caregiver [AOR: 0.35 (0.15–0.82)], having poor awareness [AOR: 6.15 (1.56–27.56)], and having a previous history of using traditional medicines [AOR: 6.65 (3.09–14.34)] were significantly associated with primary tooth extraction.

Conclusion

The prevalence of primary tooth extraction was found to be high. Educational status, caregiver of the child, level of awareness, and previous history of using traditional medicines were factors associated with primary tooth extraction.

Keywords:

• prevalence
• associated factor
• primary tooth extraction
• under-five
• Debre-Tabor

Data Sharing Statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.

Ethical Consideration

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the School of Nursing on the behalf of the Institutional Review Board of the University of Gondar. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. A letter of permission was obtained from South Gondar Zone and Debre Tabor kebele administrators. The data was collected after clearly explaining the purpose of the study and obtaining written informed consent from each study participant’s parents/guardians. Respondents were given the option of not responding to any questions they did not want to answer, as well as assurances concerning the confidentiality of the data. At last, the complication related to traditional PTE was discussed with those who had done it previously.

Acknowledgment

Firstly, we would like to acknowledge the University of Gondar College of Medicine and Health Sciences for allowing us to conduct this study. Lastly, we would like to thank the data collectors, supervisors, and study participants.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising, or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declared no competing interests in this work.