Does half-mouth recording accurately represent complete dental status among elderly?

Objective: Dependent on the aim of epidemiological studies full-mouth or half-mouth examinations were performed to identify caries or periodontal diseases but have never been performed to determine the dental or prosthetic status among elderly. The aim of this study is to determine whether half-mouth examination can accurately reflect the dental and prosthetic status of the entire mouth and to estimate the amount of subjects in a power analysis using half-mouth examination to represent complete reocordings. Material and Methods: Representative samples of 1,830 adults aged 55-79 years were examined as part of SHIP, a cross-sectional, population-based study. The rate of agreement was estimated using weighted and unweighted Kappa comparing findings of each tooth bilaterally in the mandible and maxilla. A power analysis was performed to estimate the amount of subjects representing complete dental recordings within a certain power. Results: Subjects aged 55-64 years showed unweighted Kappa values from 0.51-0.87 (median: 0.58) in the maxilla and 0.34-0.96 (median: 0.55) in the mandible, however subjects aged 65-74 years and 75-79 years showed Kappa values of 0.61-0.90 (median: 0.68) in the maxilla and 0.41-0.95 (median: 0.70) in the mandible. Weighted Kappa ranges from 0.79-0.93 (median: 0.82) for 55-64 years-old subjects and from 0.88-0.99 for the 65-74 and 75-79 years-old group in the maxilla, whereas in the mandible the 55-64 years-old group obtain Kappa of 0.74-0.99 (median: 0.90) and the 65-74 and 75-79 years-old group of 0.88-0.99 (median: 0.90). A power analysis for unweighted Kappa that depended on settings of hypothesis, alternative agreement, and proportion success computed 122 to 335 subjects presenting with complete dental recordings. Conclusion: Old age and high rates of tooth loss yielded overly high Kappa values. These could be reached by using additionally weighting the dental findings.