Current status of indices of plaque

Abstract

Microbial plaque has been described by the Council on Dental Therapeutics of the American Dental Association in their recently drafted Guidelines for acceptance of products for the management of dental plaque and gingivitis. The choice of an index system to be used in plaque trials should be made in terms of the objective of the trial, the size of the population, the period of the study, and the type and extent of change anticipated. The indices currently in use estimate the quantity of plaque in terms of tooth area covered or the thickness of material in the area measured. The Silness and Loe and the modified Turesky methods have been suggested as acceptable indices for the estimation of cleansing ability.

Oral health in South East Queensland Koalas: Prevalence of periodontal disease and other pathologies

“…In dentistry, classifying and categorizing periodontal health was originally developed through highly critiqued systematic methodology established between 1960(Barnett et al, 1989, Ainamo and Bay, 1975, Ciancio, 1986, Fischman, 1986. The use of ordinal or scale data in an index system provides interpretable information for individual symptoms or periodontal conditions based on individual patient, gender, age, site, susceptibility and populations.…”

“…Altogether, this all makes studies easier to research and report. The GI index is just one of many indexes used to report human and animal oral diseases and anomalies (Ainamo et al, 1982, Lentle, 1998, Fischman, 1986). …”

A study to assess the efficacy of a new detergent free, whitening dentifrice in vivo using QLF planimetric analysis

“…13 There are however a number of accepted problems with the use of plaque indices. For example using the Quigley Hein index, it would be possible to have a 50% reduction in plaque volume of a single tooth and yet the index score would remain the same, ie by using categorical data there is a loss of resolution, eg there is no 1.5 score.…”

“…The indices can be regarded as non-linear and therefore should be treated as scores assigned on an integer scale. 13 The plaque index developed by Quigley and Hein 14 and modified by Turesky et al 15 is one of the most frequently used indices in product testing. The technique employs disclosed plaque that is counted on the facial and lingual surfaces and emphasises the difference in plaque accumulation in the gingival third.…”

“…The technique employs disclosed plaque that is counted on the facial and lingual surfaces and emphasises the difference in plaque accumulation in the gingival third. 13 The scoring system is as follows:…”