A comparison of clinical and photographic scoring using the TF and modified DDE indices.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the results of recording enamel opacities using the TF and modified DDE indices.


METHODS
Enamel opacities on the maxillary central incisors were recorded two weeks apart. On the first occasion scoring was according to the criteria of the TF index and on the second occasion the modified DDE index was used. An intraoral colour slide photograph was taken of the teeth of each subject and these were scored on two occasions in random order, first using the TF index and secondly using the modified DDE index.


METHODS
Three hundred and twenty-five 9-year-old children who were life time residents in an area where the domestic water was fluoridated at one part per million.


RESULTS
Agreement between clinical and photograph scoring was good for both TF and modified DDE indices, Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients being 0.77 and 0.69 respectively. There was also good agreement between the distribution of scores for the two indices as indicated by Coefficients of 0.75 for clinical scores and 0.76 for photographic scores.


CONCLUSIONS
There was good agreement between the TF and modified DDE indices when recording the distribution of milder types of enamel opacities in a population of 9-year-old children.
Sabieha
A M
AM
School of Dentistry, St Chad's Queensway, Birmingham, UK.
Rock
W P
WP
D002648:Child; D004739:England; D009050:Fluorosis, Dental / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D010781:Photography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric