Infant oral mutilation (IOM) related to traditional practices among inner city pre-school children in Sudan

• Published in: African health sciences Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 359 - 368
• Main Authors: Elgamri, Alya Isam, Ahmed, Azza Tagelsir, Haj-Siddig, Omer Elfatih, Chin, Judith R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Uganda Makerere Medical School 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Body Modification, Non-Therapeutic; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cuspid - surgery; Female; Humans; Male; Medicine, African Traditional; Prevalence; Socioeconomic Factors; Sudan - epidemiology; Tooth Extraction - adverse effects; Tooth Extraction - statistics & numerical data; Tooth Germ - surgery; Tooth, Deciduous - surgery; Sudan; traditional practices; Infant oral mutilation (IOM); Sudan; pre-school children
• ISSN: 1680-6905; 1729-0503; 1680-6905
• DOI: 10.4314/ahs.v18i2.21

The term Infant Oral Mutilation (IOM) refers to the aggressive cultural rituals where primary canine tooth germs of infants are enucleated for therapeutic reasons. To determine the prevalence and risk factors for IOM among inner city pre-school children in Khartoum. In this cross-sectional study, 212 randomly selected children from twelve government pre-schools in Khartoum were examined for the presence of IOM. Socio-demographic, feeding and teething-related data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. The mean age of the sample was 4.7 years. The prevalence of clinical IOM was 10.8%. Multivariable regression analysis revealed that children who suffered from diarrhea during teething were 7.15 times more likely to have clinical IOM over their counterparts (p<0.0001). Mothers who were educated below elementary school level were 2.69 times more likely to have children showing clinical IOM (p= 0.0369). The present study showed that the practice of IOM is common among inner city children. Certain teething-related symptoms especially diarrhea and maternal education could be strong determinants of the malpractice of IOM.