title: [Evaluation of dental plaque by quantitative digital image analysis system].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the plaque staining image by using image analysis software, to verify the maneuverability, practicability and repeatability of this technique, and to evaluate the influence of different plaque stains.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the study, 30 volunteers were enrolled from the new dental students of Peking University Health Science Center in accordance with the inclusion criteria. The digital images of the anterior teeth were acquired after plaque stained according to filming standardization.The image analysis was performed using Image Pro Plus 7.0, and the Quigley-Hein plaque indexes of the anterior teeth were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The plaque stain area percentage and the corresponding dental plaque index were highly correlated,and the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.776 (P<0.01). Intraclass correlation coefficients of the tooth area and plaque area which two researchers used the software to calculate were 0.956 and 0.930 (P<0.01).The Bland-Altman analysis chart showed only a few spots outside the 95% consistency boundaries. The different plaque stains image analysis results showed that the difference of the tooth area measurements was not significant, while the difference of the plaque area measurements significant (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This method is easy in operation and control,highly related to the calculated percentage of plaque area and traditional plaque index, and has good reproducibility.The different plaque staining method has little effect on image segmentation results.The sensitive plaque stain for image analysis is suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Q X
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Luan
mesh_terms: D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D014070:Tooth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging