The benefit of Ramfjord teeth to represent the full-mouth clinical attachment level in epidemiological study

Abstract

Background: Since the periodontal disease Index of Ramfjord (Ramfjord index) can potentially shorten theexamination time by almost half, many studies evaluated Ramfjord teeth in predicting full-mouth periodontal statusof an adult population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of Ramfjord teeth in predicting the fullmouthclinical attachment level of an adult population in patients attending the college of dentistry- BaghdadUniversity.Materials and methods: The study participants were 100 patients with age range from 30-60 years old whichrepresent group zero. The patients were divided into three main groups according to the age of the patients. Group Iand group II each of them composed of 30 patients while group III composed of 40 patients. In the first time clinicalattachment level (CAL) was measured from the full mouth (FM) and then from the Ramfjord teeth (RT) (teethnumber: 16, 21, 24, 36, 41, 44) in all groups. Clinical attachment level (CAL) was measured in millimeters usingperiodontal probe.Results: The difference in the mean clinical attachment level measured from the full mouth (FM) and Ramfjord teeth(RT) by using paired t - test was non significant in all the groups. Also in all groups the correlation coefficient as well asbeta coefficient was high.Conclusion: The high agreement between Ramfjord teeth and full mouth CAL confirm the epidemiological validity ofRamfjord teeth to represent the full mouth