The usefulness of using Ramfjord teeth in predicting periodontal status of a Tanzanian adult population.
OBJECTIVE
The only partial mouth index that has been validated against full-mouth examinations in the East African population is the CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs). Since the Ramfjord index can potentially shorten the examination time by almost half, we evaluated Ramfjord teeth in predicting full-mouth periodontal status of an adult population in Tanzania.


METHODS
Pocket depth was measured for 192 consecutive patients aged from 15 to 77 years (36 years old on average); 86 (45%) females referred to the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania between January 1997 and December 1999, and the mean pocket depth for full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was calculated.


RESULTS
The correlation between the mean pocket depth calculated from the full-mouth and Ramfjord teeth was 0.96. The beta coefficient for the mean pocket depth measured by Ramfjord teeth to predict the full-mouth mean was 0.94, and was not affected by adjustment for age, missing teeth or sex.


CONCLUSIONS
This overall high agreement between Ramjford teeth and full-mouth periodontal pocket situation confirms the epidemiological validity of Ramfjord's dental sample in our setting.
Mumghamba
E G S
EG
Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. emumghamba@muchs.ac.tz
Pitiphat
W
W
Matee
M I N
MI
Simon
E
E
Merchant
A T
AT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000145:classification*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000145:classification; D012737:Sex Factors; D013636:Tanzania; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000145:classification