The oral pigmentation chart: a clinical adjunct for oral pigmentation in removable prostheses.
OBJECTIVE
Non-Caucasian patients exhibit different characteristics of oral pigmentation and may request that the acrylic resin parts of their dentures look natural, simulating the original mucosal color. Tooth loss, bone resorption, and lack of attached gingiva may, however, make it difficult to determine what the original pigmentation was like. The purpose of this investigation was to study the distribution in oral pigmentation around the natural dentition in non-Caucasians, in a preliminary effort to classify these variations into a chart of oral pigmentation, and to analyze its reproducibility.


METHODS
For the study, 106 dentate non-Caucasians were selected from two universities: ACTA (patient group) and UCLA (nonpatient group). A pigmentation scheme was devised on the basis of half of the participants, and the others were divided into categories by four observers independently. Cohen's kappa was then calculated.


RESULTS
On the basis of information obtained from the ACTA participants, six categories of mucosal pigmentation were defined. The kappa statistics for the four observers varied from .58 to .79 for intraobserver agreement and from .15 to .55 for interobserver agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
The Oral Pigmentation Chart is a simple device that makes it possible to simulate oral pigmentation in the acrylic resin parts of removable dentures. The reproducibility appeared to be acceptable when clinician and dental technician were calibrated. Patients can be offered a choice of the kind of pigmentation geography they want in their removable prostheses.
de Krom
Caroline J
CJ
Department of Oral Function, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), The Netherlands.
van Waas
Marinus A J
MA
Oosterveld
Paul
P
Koopmans
Arjen S F
AS
Garrett
Niel R
NR
D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000328:Adult; D003779:Denture Design; D003832:Denture, Partial, Removable; D005260:Female; D005881:Gingiva / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D015588:Observer Variation; D010858:Pigmentation; D017797:Prosthesis Coloring; D044469:Racial Groups
D000180:Acrylic Resins