Dental hygiene registration: development, and reliability and validity testing of an assessment scale designed for nurses in institutions.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and test the dental hygiene registration, a dental hygiene assessment scale for nurses working in institutions.


BACKGROUND
Removal of dental plaque is a key factor in preventing oral health-related diseases. A simple, but reliable dental hygiene assessment scale that enables nurses to monitor residents' dental hygiene on a daily basis, will improve monitoring oral hygiene status and quality of dental health care.


METHODS
Descriptive study on the development and evaluation of a dental hygiene registration instrument.


METHODS
The dental hygiene registration was developed and tested over several stages during the period of 2011-2014. Dental hygiene registration consists of a five-point plaque score scale. The score indicates whether measures are needed. A reference group comprising both medical and dental personnel designed dental hygiene registration. Dental plaque was used as a measure of dental hygiene. A pictorial series of teeth with varying amounts of plaque was used to achieve intra-examiner agreement. Dental hygiene registration assessments were scored 50 times to assess interexaminer reliability between one dental hygienist and one clinical nurse. Dental hygiene registration was validated against the plaque index score of the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index. The Regional Ethics Committee approved the study (2011/915).


RESULTS
Estimates for intra-examiner agreement on plaque score were good for the dental hygienist (κ = 0·7) and very good for the clinical nurse (κ = 0·8). Estimates for interexaminer reliability for dental hygiene registration between the dental hygienist and the clinical nurse were moderate (κ = 0·4). dental hygiene registration corresponded significantly with Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0·8, p < 0·001) indicating good validity.


CONCLUSIONS
The developed dental hygiene registration appears to be reliable and valid.


CONCLUSIONS
Dental hygiene registration may contribute to the provision of daily oral care. Dental hygiene registration enables nurses to evaluate their own effort when assisting in dental hygiene and to register whether further effort is needed.
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Katrine Gahre
KG
Fjeld
Faculty of Health Sciences, Buskerud and Vestfold University College, Drammen, Norway.
Hilde
H
Eide
Medical Clinic, Oslo University Hospital, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Morten
M
Mowe
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Lene Hystad
LH
Hove
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Tiril
T
Willumsen
D000368:Aged; D016321:Dental Care for Aged; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015588:Observer Variation; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000451:nursing / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
assessment; elderly; long-term care; oral care