Comparison of a conventional and modified tooth stain index

Objectives: To evaluate a modified tooth stain index and determine the effe ct of dietary factors on stain formation. Methods: At baseline, 182 adult volunteers were given a full oral prophylax is followed by stain assessment using a modification of the Lobene index. T his involved assigning separate scores to the mesial (M) and distal (D) sit es of each tooth, in addition to the standard gingival area (G) and tooth b ody (B). For each site, stain intensity and areas were scored. The sum of ( intensityXarea) scores was calculated for all sites (GBMD-value) and for th e gingival and body sites only (GB-value). The subjects used a standard abr asive dentifrice and a soft toothbrush for 6 weeks. Results: Stain nas reassessed and the average increase in GBMD-value was 20 .9 (sd = 9.9) (buccal aspect) and 29.9 (sd = 18.0) (lingual aspect). The co rresponding GB-values were 4.4 (sd = 4.8) and 12.5 (sd = 10.2). The coeffic ients of variation of the GBMD index values were consistently lower than th ose of the GB values. Smoking and tea-drinking were found to be the only si gnificant (p<0.001) factors investigated for stain formation. Conclusions: It is concluded that the modified index may well be advantageo us to its conventional counterpart because sites with most visible stain ar e assessed separately and because it may also offer higher discriminatory p ower due to a lower coefficient of variation.