Reliability and discriminatory power of methods for dental plaque quantification.
OBJECTIVE
This in situ study evaluated the discriminatory power and reliability of methods of dental plaque quantification and the relationship between visual indices (VI) and fluorescence camera (FC) to detect plaque.


METHODS
Six volunteers used palatal appliances with six bovine enamel blocks presenting different stages of plaque accumulation. The presence of plaque with and without disclosing was assessed using VI. Images were obtained with FC and digital camera in both conditions. The area covered by plaque was assessed. Examinations were done by two independent examiners. Data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and Kappa tests to compare different conditions of samples and to assess the inter-examiner reproducibility.


RESULTS
Some methods presented adequate reproducibility. The Turesky index and the assessment of area covered by disclosed plaque in the FC images presented the highest discriminatory powers.


CONCLUSIONS
The Turesky index and images with FC with disclosing present good reliability and discriminatory power in quantifying dental plaque.
Raggio
Daniela Prócida
DP
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Braga
Mariana Minatel
MM
Rodrigues
Jonas Almeida
JA
Freitas
Patrícia Moreira
PM
Imparato
José Carlos Pettorossi
JC
Mendes
Fausto Medeiros
FM
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D018441:Biofilms; D002417:Cattle; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000382:microbiology; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D015588:Observer Variation; D023861:Photography, Dental; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D007202:Indicators and Reagents