Children and adolescents, aged 2 to 18 years, from 300 poor families in Addis Ababa were examined to determine the prevalence of the traditional practice of primary canine tooth removal. Fifteen percent of the primary canine teeth were found to have been affected, and 7% of the permanent canines had been damaged by this practice. A questionnaire to a subset of 40 families revealed some of the reasons that this procedure is still carried out, in spite of the considerable associated morbidity.