Partial-mount recording of plaque and periodontal pockets.

Plaque ananand pocket depths were recorded in milimetres from the tissue margin, coronally or apically, respectively. Plaque and pocket depths were recorded by examining only a segment of the dentition using eight different combination of teeth. These results d the results obtained from full-mouth examinations in the same individuals were compared. All eight methods of partial-mouth recording gave results that were good in terms of both relative and absolute value when compared to the total-mouth index. The results were valid irrespective of the method chosen. The anterior tooth index was preferred because this segment of the dentition was the easiest to examine. It eliminated the difficulty of making the decision of which teen to substitute when any of the other teeth were missing and produced results for plaque scores and pocket scores that were very good estimates of the total-mouth index.