A children's oral health status index based on dentists' judgment.

The children's oral health status index was developed as an integrated measure for the direct appraisal of pediatric patient populations in private practices, dental clinics, or school programs. The index is derived from a paired preference experiment with five pedodontists and five general dentists acting as judges of oral health in 200 case comparisons. Four easily measured variables are united numerically by the index: decayed teeth, occlusion, tooth position, and missing teeth (which have not been exfoliated). Clinical applications of the index in three geographic areas have all had good results.