Abstract:The purpose of this study was to determine the percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth and to examine their significance in oral health promotion and their utilization in oral health education for adults and elderly people.The percentile curves were estimated by cumulative frequency distribution of missing permanent teeth from 10,249 subjects aged 10-79 yr, reported by the National Survey of Dental Disease (Japan, 1987). The results were as follows.1) Age differences in missing teeth were observed clearly on the rate of persons with a few numbers of missing teeth (less than approximately 5 teeth, Fig. 1) and high percentile levels (more than 50 percentile level, Fig. 2) when the subjects were divided into two age groups of less or more than 40-44 years.2) Regression analysis showed that the percentile values of missing permanent teeth were in conformity with an exponential curve (Fig. 2).3) Percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth were widely distributed and divided into the areas between 3-97 percentile curves with similar intervals (Fig. 3).4) The percentile curves showed profiles similar to the survival rate curves of human life and reflected suitably the trends of aging in oral health status and the present distribution in permanent dentition.These results show that the percentile curves for the numbers of permanent teeth are a useful index for planning and evaluting oral health promotion and are an effective parameter in the counselling for oral health.

Background: The ability to climb stairs (ascending and descending stair without using a handrail) and rise from a chair (rising from chairs without using an elbow rest) are among the most important measures of physical function for ADL evaluation for the independent living, and assessed by the questioners on many epidemiological studies in elderly. But little is known about the relationship between the self-reported performance level of the tasks and lower leg strength and power in very elderly people. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between the self-reported performance level of two tasks and the lower leg function in communitydwelling 80-year-old population. Methods: Out of 994 persons who were 80 years old living in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, 607 individuals (236 men and 371 women) underwent a physical fitness test that included measurements of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength. The ability to climb up stair and to rise from a chair was assessed by selfreported questionnaire which was ranked in three levels. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the measurements. Results: The cutoff points for the leg extensor power of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 8.6 watt/kg body mass for men and 5.6 watt/kg body mass for women. In addition, the cutoff points for the knee extensor strength of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 0.97 kg/kg body mass for men and 0.84 kg/kg body mass for women. Conclusions: From a practical viewpoint, the present study suggested that the cutoff points of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength can be used as targets in simple self-reported questionnaires to help in screening for mobility in 80-year-old population

For the evaluation of physical growth in children, percentile curves have been widely

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Abstract:An epidemiological survey on the prevalence of dental fluorosis and measurement of flu-