Dental mutilation and associated abnormalities in Uganda

In 1966 during a dental survey of four districts in Uganda — Acholi in the north, Bugisu in the east, and Kigezi and Toro in the southwest — 1169 Africans were examined. In the sample from Kigezi District 11.9% of the Bakiga tribe showed a form of dental mutilation consisting of the filing away of the mesial angle of the upper central incisors. In the sample from Acholi District 16.1% of the Acholi tribe showed abnormal conditions related to the ritual extraction of the primary canines. Extraction of the lower permanent incisors was seen occasionally in the Acholis (8), Batoros (1) and Bugisus (3). Removal of the primary canines is attributed to a belief that infantile fever originates from these teeth. Because the primary canines were removed in a crude fashion, malformation, non-eruption or premature eruption of the underlying permanent canines resulted.