Examiner agreement on periodontal indices during dental surveys of elders.
J Clin Periodontol
; 23(1): 56-9, 1996 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8636458
ABSTRACT
Indices used to evaluate periodontal health have been widely accepted in epidemiological studies, yet their reliability cannot be guaranteed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of periodontal indices applied on elders. 19 elderly subjects, 73-years-old on average, were examined at a 1st appointment by 2 independent examiners. They were re-examined 2 weeks later during a 2nd session. The examinations were performed in a dental chair with good illumination. Periodontal health was evaluated using the community periodontal index of treatment need, and tooth mobility was evaluated using 2 different indices. Inter and intra-examiner agreements were evaluated using kappa statistics. Taken as an overall measurement, the CPITN was a reliable assessment of periodontal treatment need in elders. Disagreement occurred mainly on the evaluation of bleeding and shallow pockets. The detection of fairly mobile teeth was reliable; however, the performance of the more sensitive scale was deceptive. it seems that, in the case of tooth mobility, a choice has to be made between sensitivity or reproducibility. It can be concluded that examiners should be trained carefully since the reliability of the CPITN and tooth mobility evaluation were good but close to a critical level for which an agreement is classified as poor.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Periodontal Diseases
/
Periodontal Index
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Clin Periodontol
Year:
1996
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Switzerland