Oral Health Scales: Design of an Oral Health Scale of Infectious Potential
Objectives: In this paper we propose a new Global Oral Health Scale that will allow the infectious potential of the oral cavity, clinically manifest as local and focal infections, to be condensed into a single parameter. Study Design: Based on a number of oral health scales previously designed by our group, we designed a final version that incorporates dental and periodontal variables (some of them evaluated using corroborated objective indices) that reflect the presence of caries and periodontal disease. Results: The application of the proposed oral health scale requires the examination of 6 sites per tooth (mesio- buccal, medio-buccal, disto-buccal, disto-lingual, medio-lingual and mesio-…
Evaluation of an oral health scale of infectious potential using a telematic survey of visual diagnosis
Objective: To compare the results of a subjective estimation of oral health through review of a set of intraoral photographs with those of an objective oral health scale of infectious potential. Method : The pool of patients was made up of 100 adults. Using an infectious-potential scale based on dental and periodontal variables, we assigned 1 of the 4 grades of the scale (range, 0 to 3; 0 corresponds to an excellent oral health status and 3 to the poorest oral health status) to each subject. A total of 20 representative subjects were selected from the pool of patients, 5 subjects for each one of the grades of the scale, and a standardized photographic record was made. One thousand dentists …