June 2007

Objective: To assess the reproducibility of the Denplan Oral Health Score (OHS®) and to examine whether general dental practitioners are more reproducible at measuring oral health when they use the OHS than when they use their usual method of examining patients. Design: This was a single centre study designed to compare dentists’ reproducibility using the Oral Health Score with their reproducibility when using the method of examination that they normally employ in general practice. Setting: The study was carried out at The University of Birmingham School of Dentistry during 2001. Participants: Ten local general dental practitioners were recruited by advertising. The patients were selected from various clinics in the University of Birmingham School of Dentistry to provide a broad spectrum of oral health. Main Outcome Measures: The dentists scored oral health by two methods; firstly on a 10 cm linear scale after using their everyday method of examination and secondly using the structured format of the OHS examination, where the Oral Health Scores were expressed as a percentage. Results: Overall, the majority of the participating dentists demonstrated better intra-examiner reproducibility with the OHS than with their own method of examination. There was also higher inter-examiner reproducibility with the OHS than with the dentists’ own method. Key words: Oral health index, oral health score, reproducibility.