Abstract

Periodontal disease is the primary cause of tooth loss in the adult, and therefore, early diagnosis of periodontal disease by the general practitioner is important in terms of prevention as well as treatment. The present study was designed to develop a periodontal screening examination which would fulfill the following requirements:

  1. It should utilize precise and easily understood criteria.
  2. It should take a short period of time.
  3. It should enable the practitioner to accurately place patients into various disease categories.
  4. It should enable the practitioner to easily and quickly relate these disease categories to treatment.

A "comprehensive" periodontal examination was performed on 120 patients ranging in age from 15 to 81. The comprehensive examination consisted of examining each tooth for bleeding upon gentle probing, pocket depth measurements, mobility and furcation involvements. All data was subjected to computer analysis in order to discover the areas which were most indicative of the disease state of the individual. Selection of the screening areas was based on overall percentage of correctly categorized patients and the ease of performing the examination. The resulting Periodontal Screening Examination (PSE) involved probing each tooth on the mesial and distal, from the buccal aspect only, and testing for mobility on all teeth present. This method correctly categorized 90.8% of the 120 patients into one of four disease categories. The disease categories are divided in such a manner that patients may be referred for treatment according to severity of disease to hygienist, general practitioner or specialist if so desired.

The PSE was tested for its accuracy in placing patients into disease categories when used by four general practitioners and the results indicated that, without prior training in the method, these general practitioners could accurately categorize patients 84.7% of the time.

LLU Discipline

Periodontics

Department

Periodontics

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Richard C. Oliver

Second Advisor

Charles Woofter

Third Advisor

Blaine McDermott

Fourth Advisor

Grenith J. Zimmerman

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1975

Date (Title Page)

6-1975

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Periodontal Diseases

Type

Thesis

Page Count

iv; 33

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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