Comparison of Dean's index and tooth surface index of fluorosis / 实用口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare the characteristics of Dean's index(DI) and tooth surface index of fluorosis(TSIF). Methods:416 inhabitants of 12, 15 and 35~44 years old were sampled randomly to receive epidemiological survey assessed by DI in fluorosis endemic areas of Xingtai City, Hebei Province. Then TSIF was used to investigate the 178 samples selected randomly from the 416 subjects. Two examiners(S/C) were trained by an experienced specialist of epidemiology(W) before investigation. SPSS 10.0 software and Excel database were used to analyze the data.Results:Weighted Kappa of theoretic calibration of DI and TSIF was ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. The results of TSIF were lower than DI in clinical calibration test. With the increase of the number of tooth surfaces concerned, strength of agreement declined, ranging from “very good” to “moderate”. Prevalence of fluorosis according to DI was lower than that accoding to TSIF.In 35-44 years old people difference of fluorosis prevalence calculating between DI and TSIF was almost 40%. The most probably reason for this phenomenon was that a person with “questionable” fluorosis wouldn't be calculated as a fluorosis patient. The proportion of “questionable” in 35-44 age group was the highest (40.3%). Conclusion:DI is suitable for large-scale epidemiology survey, and should be combined with community fluorosis index (CFI), while TSIF is suitable for esthetic study, especially for severe fluorosis patients.