Comparison of oral hygiene diagnosis using oral clinical examination and photography based on global oral health scale

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The present study aims in assessing the compliance in diagnosis of oral hygiene by means of clinical examination, oral photography, and Global Oral Health Scale criteria.METHODS: The total number of 100 patients referring to the school of dentistry was examined regarding the teeth decay, cavities, as well as gum and periodontal conditions. Finally, 20 patients were selected among them and the standard registered intraoral photos were provided from each of them in order to prepare an archive. The completed archive was examined by 60 specialists and specialist residents and 100 general dentists. The participants were requested to grade oral health of each patient based on the photographs. Grading system was as follows: very good (0), good (1), medium (2), and poor (3). The results of reviews were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test, t-test, chi-square, and Bonferroni correction via SPSS software. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.RESULTS: 94 persons or 59.1% correctly diagnosed the oral hygiene of 7 to 12 patients based on the photography. However, the number of the correct diagnoses did not exceed more than 14 cases by none of the participants. The overestimation was observed in 84.1% (134 persons) of the participants about the case number 10 (one 1st-grade patient) and also underestimation in the case number 1 (one 3rd-grade patient). The female participants showed higher compliance regarding the 2nd grade (P = 0.001), while male participants showed higher compliance regarding the 1st grade (P = 0.002). In addition, statistically significant differences were attained with respect to the field of specialization of respondents. General dentists had the highest conformity rate in their answer to grade one, and periodontists and postgraduate students had highest conformity rates reported for grades 2 and 3.CONCLUSION: The results revealed that compared to the patients’ photography, utilizing the Global Oral Health Scale as an innovative indicator can be very useful, especially for the patients with perfect or weak oral hygiene, epidemiological studies, and comparisons of different populations.