title: Risk assessment for oral diseases: reaction paper.
abstract: The "gold standard" outcome measure for periodontal diseases is clinical loss of attachment measured with a periodontal probe. All risk factors for periodontal diseases must be estimated against this standard, which provides post hoc evidence of past disease activity. Measurement of clinical attachment level is crude; therefore, rather large changes must be recorded for specificity to be ensured. This apparently results in rather poor sensitivity, masking good predictors that could prove valuable on a population, individual, and site basis. If risk assessment for periodontal diseases is to advance, this problem must be solved.
authors.affiliation: Eastman Dental Center.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Caton
mesh_terms: D004846:Epithelial Attachment / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010517:Periodontics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors