The Dental, Oral, Medical Epidemiological (DOME) Study: Protocol and Study Methods.

OBJECTIVES: To develop and present the methods utilized for the Dental, Oral, Medical Epidemiological (DOME) study. METHODS: The DOME is an electronic record-based cross-sectional study, that was conducted to measure the dental, periodontal, and oral morbidities and their associations with systemic morbidities, among a nationally representative sample of young to middle-aged adults military personnel from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). To that end, we developed a strict protocol including standardized terminology, data collection, and handling. RESULTS: Data for the DOME study was derived simultaneously from three electronic records of the IDF: (1) a central demographic database, (2) the dental patient record (DPR), and (3) the medical computerized patient record (CPR). The established DOME repository includes socio-demographic, dental and medical records of 132,354 young to middle-age military personnel from the IDF, who attended the dental clinics during the year 2015. Records of general military personnel (N > 50,000), with no recorded dental visits during the study period, served as a control group regarding all other parameters except dental. The DOME study continues and is currently collecting longitudinal data from the year 2010 until 2020. The IDF employs a standardized uniform administrative and clinical work-up and treatment protocols as well as uniform computerized codes. We describe the standardized definitions for all the parameters that were included: socio-demographics, health-related habits, medical and dental attendance patterns, and general and dental health status. Multicollinearity analysis results of the sociodemographic and medical study parameters are presented. CONCLUSION: Standardized work-up and definitions are essential to establish the centralized DOME data repository to study the extent of dental and systemic morbidities and their associations.

Incisor inclination determined by the light reflection zone on the tooth's surface.

OBJECTIVE: Maxillary incisors are the most prominent teeth, and their inclination plays an important role in esthetics. In orthodontics, the inclination of central incisors is usually determined by cephalometric analysis. This publication suggests an adjunctive clinical measure to determine this inclination. The objective of the study was to examine the correlation between the inclinations of maxillary incisors measured on a cephalometric lateral headfilm and the light reflection zone appearing on the buccal surface of the teeth on anterior intraoral photographs. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Maxillary incisor inclination, divided into three levels-proclination, normal inclination, and retroclination-of 65 patients was determined by means of cephalometric analysis, using three angular measurements (maxillary incisor to sella-nasion, maxillary incisor to Frankfort horizontal, and maxillary incisor to nasion-point A). The anterior intraoral photographs of the 65 patients were divided into 3 groups according to the reflection zone on the maxillary central incisors as determined from the photographs: incisal, middle, and gingival. The correlation and agreement between the two parameters were evaluated by chi-square and kappa statistics. RESULTS: The light reflection zone on the tooth surface as it appears on intraoral photographs-incisal, middle, or gingival-correlated with statistical significance to the angular inclination of the teeth-proclination, normal inclination, and retroclination, respectively-as determined by means of cephalometric analysis (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Incisor inclination can be determined by not only cephalometric analysis but also the light reflection zone viewed on the buccal surface of intraoral photographs. This method might be used as a new screening tool and further as an additional clinical tool for assessing treatment plans in orthodontics and other fields of dentistry.