Partial mouth recording of plaque, gingivitis and probing depth in adolescents.

Selection of teeth representative of the whole dentition has been used in clinical and epidemiological investigations. The present study was carried out to assess the relationship between 3 different subsets of teeth and the whole dentition for the plaque index, gingival index and probing depth. The selections were: the subset described by Ramfjord (16, 21, 24, 36, 41, 44), the CPITN Alternative I subset (17, 16, 11, 26, 27, 37, 36, 31, 46, 47) and the CPITN Alternative II subset (16, 11, 26, 36, 31, 46). The comparisons were performed on data obtained for 15-year-old adolescents. A strong correlation was observed between the whole dentition and each of the subsets for all assessments. The distribution of scores of the Ramfjord selection and the whole dentition was not statistically different. Corresponding comparisons showed that the distribution of scores of the CPITN selections and the whole dentition was statistically different. Plaque and gingival index scores of these selections underestimated 0 scores and overestimated 2 + 3 scores. Probing depths less than or equal to 2 mm were underestimated and probing depths greater than or equal to 4 mm overestimated. The bias associated with the CPITN Alt I was more pronounced than that of the CPITN Alt II subset of teeth in the adolescents examined.