Question

After 2 years in private practice, your concerns for unmet oral health care needs prompt you to join the Indian Health Service. As part of an initial 3-month internship you are assigned to work with teachers in an understaffed school (grades 2 through 12). The primary goal is to assist in incorporating oral health concepts and practices into the curriculum for this community's Native American students. The school has two classrooms for each grade, with approximately 30 to 40 students per grade. There is one teacher for each classroom, with an occasional volunteer parent who serves as a teacher's aide. While doing some initial research you learn that this region is nonfluoridated and you find no evidence of school-based fluoride programs. Also disconcerting, in many Native American tribes 37% of both male and female students, grades 7 to 12, use spit tobacco. While you are unable to locate numerical values to document alcohol abuse in this age group, extensive literature reports it as prevalent.

Before your first in-service presentation to the teachers, you want to determine their cumulative dental experience as well as their oral hygiene status. You select the DMF for cumulative dental caries experience. What is the BEST index to evaluate the oral hygiene status of this group?

Answer 1

The best index to evaluate the oral hygiene status of this group is the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S).

Step-by-step explanation:

The best index to evaluate the oral hygiene status of this group of teachers would be the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S). The OHI-S assesses the amount of plaque and debris present on the teeth using a simplified scoring system. It evaluates the presence of plaque and debris on six index teeth and provides a score ranging from 0 to 3.