A randomized clinical study to assess the reliability and reproducibility of "Sign Grading System".

Background: Signs such as +, ++ and +++ for mild, moderate and severe stains/calculus are being used in India effectively for more than four decades. However, there are no standardized criteria for grading, and no data regarding how and when this system was introduced, but it became very popular throughout India and is being used since then. Aims and Objectives: An attempt was made here to standardize the criteria on which the grades would be given and designate it as "Sign Grading System". Along with this, the objective of this paper was to evaluate whether this index/system satisfies all the requirements of an ideal index, particularly reliability and reproducibility. Settings and Design: Inter-examiner and intra-examiner reliability and reproducibility of this index was assessed through a randomized clinical study. Patients were recruited from an institutional setting by random selection from the outpatient department. Materials and Methods: One month of training was conducted before the actual start of study. The clinical aspect of the study involved 3 investigators and 50 patients of whom 45 patients were reassessed. All the data were kept blind by a research assistant to reduce bias. Necessary measures were taken to reduce/eliminate the confounding variables, which could have affected the outcome of this study. Cohen's kappa and Fleiss' kappa statistics were employed for statistical analysis. Results and Conclusion: The index fulfills most of the ideal requirements of an index along with a high degree of reliability and reproducibility.

Prevalence of black tooth stains and dental caries in Brazilian schoolchildren

O presente estudo avaliou a correlação entre a presença de manchas extrínsecas pretas no esmalte dental e experiência de cárie de escolares brasileiros. A população alvo consistiu de 263 crianças com idades entre 6 e 12 anos. Os exames clínicos foram realizados por quatro dentistas calibrados de acordo com o critério da Organização Mundial de Saúde para diagnóstico de cárie. O teste c2 foi usado para comparar a prevalência de cárie entre crianças com e sem manchas pretas no esmalte. O teste de correlação de Spearman foi usado para analisar a relação entre a presença de mancha preta e a severidade da doença cárie. A presença de manchas pretas foi diagnosticada em 14,8 por cento das crianças. O número de crianças livre de cárie na dentição permanente não foi estatisticamente diferente entre os grupos. O CPO-D médio foi 1,46 ± 1,39 para crianças com manchas pretas e 2,42 ± 2,09 para crianças sem mancha. Observou-se correlação negativa entre a presença (r = -0,16; p<0,05) e severidade (r = -0,15; p<0,01) da mancha preta e o CPO-D.

A comparison of oral hygiene status and dental caries in children on long term liquid oral medications to those not administered with such medications.

Young chronically ill children receive a greater sugar load from liquid medications than do healthy children. They receive variety of oral liquid medications that healthy children do not This study was planned to know the levels of oral hygiene and Dental caries in children on long term liquid oral medicines (LOM) and to know out if any difference existed between these and children not on LOM. 51 children on LOM were compared to 54 not on LOM after equalising for age, oral hygiene and diet intake. Highly significant difference was found for dmft and dmfs in 2-6 year age group and dmft+ DMFT for 6-13 years age group, mostly posterior teeth were affected and for this the difference was statistically significant in 2-6 year old children. Percentage of children with dmft>5 significantly increased in 2-6 years old children on LOM, when compared to that of control. Percentage of various grades of lesions (relating to the severity) also increased with an increase in the duration of LOM.