The Department of Child Dental Health was created on August 1st, 1980 following the approval of the University Senate on June 17th, 1980.

It was carved out of the Department of Restorative Dentistry. The first Head of Department was Dr. J.O. Adenubi, 1980 – 1983.

It consists of two units namely Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics. Paediatric Dentistry is the aspect of Dentistry that deals with oral health needs of children from birth to fifteen years including the management of children and persons with special health needs. Orthodontics deals with management of malocclusion in both children and adults.

The Department presently has 8 honorary consultants to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. The Department participates actively in dental clinical services and members make contributions in the areas of teaching of resident doctors and other health professional in clinical services and research.

The Department has one Dental Technologist, one Dental Therapist, one Principal Confidential Secretary and one Clerical staff.

The Department also carries out training of Registrars (Junior and Senior) for the West African Postgraduate Medical College and the National Postgraduate Medical College. The junior Registrar is expected to rotate through Paediatric Dentistry as well as Orthodontic units.

In the last 20 years the Department has trained over 40 Paediatric Dentists and Orthodontists, who are gainfully employed in both State and Federal Institutions; and some in full time private practice. The Department continues to engage in high quality research.

The goal of the Department is the establishment of two separate functional Departments namely Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics. The proposal for postgraduate academic programs in MSc, MPhil and PhD in both Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics is currently being processed with the Academic Planning Unit of the University of Lagos.