How well can people count their own teeth? Angus W G Walls, Amanda Wilmot Dental School, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Office of National Statistics, United Kingdom [e-mail]

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How well can people count their own teeth? Angus
W G Walls, Amanda WilmotDental School,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Office of
National Statistics, United Kingdoma.w.g.walls_at_n
cl.ac.uk
3530
They were revisited 1-week later when the record
of their tooth count was retrieved. At this
second visit a short interviewer-led
questionnaire was completed to determine whether
there had been any changes to their dental status
since the oral examination as part of the 1998
ADHS and to find out if the participants had
encountered any problems counting their
teeth. Results

• Aims
• To estimate how accurately subjects in an
  epidemiological survey can count their own teeth
  when given some simple instructions and a
  disposable mouth mirror
• Introduction
• Oral health status and particularly the number of
  teeth present in the mouth and denture usage, has
  been linked to foods choice, dietary selection
  and nutritional intake1,2. However, the use of
  dental personnel within epidemiological surveys
  simply to count teeth is relatively expensive and
  there are legislative and psychological barriers
  to looking into peoples mouths that limit the
  possibility for survey workers to assess oral
  health status.
• Self-reported edentulousness has been shown to
  be a reliable predictor of denture status.
  However there have been few studies that have
  explored the ability of adults to estimate the
  number of teeth in their mouths as a potential
  replacement for a formal dental examination. Todd
  and Lader3 reported the accuracy of a simple
  requested estimate of the numbers of teeth
  present in the mouth as part of the UK Adult
  Dental Health Survey for 1988. Adults were asked
  to categorise themselves as having fewer than 10,
  10 to 19 or more than 20 teeth. Participants were
  good at grouping themselves into low or high
  numbers of teeth, but accuracy in the middle band
  was low (60). Gilbert and co-workers4 showed
  reasonable accuracy on a population level for
  self-reported counts but poorer accuracy at an
  individual level The purpose of this study was to
  estimate the accuracy with which people could
  count their own teeth when given some simple
  instructions and provided with a disposable mouth
  mirror.
• Methods
• This study was performed as part of the
  feasibility study for the National Diet and
  Nutrition Survey for Adults. 191 individuals who
  had been seen during the 1998 Adult Dental Health
  Survey were approached to see if they would
  participate in this study. Each person was given
  a disposable mouth mirror and a set of written
  instructions suggesting a method for counting
  their teeth.

• Results
• 87 stated that counting teeth was either very or
  fairly easy. Some reported problems with vision
  and counting their upper teeth. 90 of the sample
  were accurate to within 2 teeth.
• Subjects with more teeth tended to under count
  and those with fewer over count.
• When broken down into tooth groups (1-8, 1-14,
  15-20, 21-26, 27-31, 32) 82 were in the correct
  group, 7 one group to low and 10 one group too
  high
• There were no gender or social class differences
  in accuracy of tooth count. Older subjects were
  less accurate than younger people.
• Despite reported difficulty in counting upper
  teeth the levels of accuracy were similar when
  data for the two arches were compared.
• Subjects who reported having difficulty counting
  their teeth tended to be less accurate
• Subjectively participants reported that
  practising counting their teeth made the process
  easier and they found it easier when emphasis was
  placed on the value of good lighting by the
  interviewer
• Conclusions
• the subjects in this study were able to count
  their own teeth with a high degree of accuracy.
• 82 of subjects would have been placed in the
  correct group according to the numbers of teeth
  they had.
• References
• 1. Sheiham, A., et al., The relationship among
  dental status, nutrient intake, and nutritional
  status in older people. J Dent Res, 2001. 80(2)
  p. 408-13.
• 2. Krall, E., C. Hayes, and R. Garcia, How
  dentition status and masticatory function affect
  nutrient intake. Journal of the American Dental
  Association, 1998. 129 p. 1261-1269.
• 3. Todd, J.E. and D. Lader, Adult dental health
  1988 United Kingdom. 1991, London HMSO.
• 4. Gilbert, G.H., R.P. Duncan, and A.M. Kulley,
  Validity of self-reported tooth counts during a
  telephone screening interview. J Public Health
  Dent, 1997. 57(3) p. 176-80.

Accuracy of tooth count
Accuracy of tooth count by age
Accuracy of tooth count by number of remaining
teeth
Funded by the Food Standards Agency and the
Department of Health