Methodological considerations concerning the development of oral dental erosion indexes: literature survey, validity and reliability.
Within the context of preventing non-communicable diseases, the World Health Report (2002) and the WHO Global Oral Health Program (2003) put forward a new strategy of disease prevention and health promotion. Greater emphasis is placed on developing global policies in oral health promotion and oral disease prevention. The Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index does not meet new challenges in the field of oral health. Dental erosion seems to be a growing problem, and in some countries, an increase in erosion of teeth is associated with an increase in the consumption of beverages containing acids. Therefore, within a revision of the WHO Oral Health Surveys Basic Methods, new oral disease patterns, e.g. dental erosion, have to be taken into account. Within the last 20 years, many studies on dental erosion have been carried out and published. There has been a rapid growth in the number of indexes quantifying dental erosion process in different age groups. However, these indexes are not comparable. This article discusses quality criteria which an index intended for assessing tooth erosion should possess.
Berg-Beckhoff
Gabriele
G
Faculty of Public Health, Dept Epidemiology & International Public Health, University of Bielefeld, POB 10 01 31, 33 501, Bielefeld, Germany. gabriele.berg@uni-bielefeld.de
Kutschmann
Marcus
M
Bardehle
Doris
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009811:Odontometry / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014072:Tooth Abrasion / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D019217:Tooth Attrition / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014077:Tooth Erosion / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology