Insufficiency of Currently used Dental Indices in Epidemiology
Journal Title: Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research - Year 2014, Vol 4, Issue 10
Abstract
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies oral diseases in two different ways: officially dental caries (K02) and gingivitis as well periodontal diseases (K.05) are diseases in the digestive system. In epidemiological surveys the so-called DMF-index values (D= decayed or M= missing or F= filled tooth/surface) are used in determining past and present caries experience and the Community Periodontal Index (CPI) of WHO is used for the region around the teeth. Prevalence may be defined as the proportion of a population that has a disease at a specific point in time. In epidemiology, a subject-specific approach is the only accepted practice which means that a patient has one or multiple diseases, the rest of the population being healthy. A certain “cut-off” value normally differentiates the healthy subjects from diseased ones. In oral epidemiology the index values are used to determine the “seriousness” of the oral diseases. Calibrated dentists/examiners may be educated in recording dental caries and attachment loss exactly at a high level of precision but unless these scientific recordings are “diagnoses”, the observations represent disease detections and assessments only without providing any prevalence or incidence values of oral diseases. The reason for that is hidden in the fact that the tools for oral health determinations are different from those for the diagnosis of oral diseases by WHO.
Authors and Affiliations
Markku Larmas, Kauko K Mäkinen
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP349185
- DOI 10.9734/BJMMR/2014/7139
- Views 30
- Downloads 0
An Investigation into the Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria Causing Ventilator – Associated Pneumonia in ICU
Aims: The present study sought to determine the pattern of antibiotic resistance of pathogens in Ventilator–Associated Pneumonia (VAP) and to investigate risk factors of multi-drug resistant (MDR) in ICUs of tertiary ref...
Insulinomimetic, Antihyperlipidemic and Antioxidative Properties of Azadirachta indica. Possible Mechanism of Action
Currently available synthetic drugs for management of diabetes mellitus have been reported to cause side effects, hence searches for safer, readily available and cheaper sources among medicinal plants. One hundred and th...
The Effect of Long Term Consumption of Powdered Tobacco Diet on Learning and Memory in Swiss White Mice
Aim: The effects of long term consumption of powdered tobacco (snuff) diet on learning and memory was studied in 30 Swiss white mice. Design: The mice were randomly assigned into two groups (n = 15 each). Mice in group...
Effects of Three Different Modes of Exercise Training on Plasma Lipoprotein Profile in Healthy Men
Objective: The present study was designed to compare the effects of resistance, endurance, and combined endurance / resistance exercises on plasma lipid and lipoprotein profile in healthy untrained middle-aged men. Metho...
Automatic Extraction of the Aorta and The Measurement of Its Diameter
Aims: The objective of this research is to extract the aorta and to measure its diameter for preoperative planning of heart surgeries such as Endo Vascular Aortic Repair (EVAR) or Aortic Valvular Replacement (AVR). Stud...