ABDPH Dental Public Health cheat sheet

DMFT counts decayed, missing (due to caries), and filled permanent teeth per person; dmft uses lowercase letters for primary dentition.

DMFS counts tooth surfaces rather than teeth; for permanent dentition 5 surfaces per anterior tooth and 5 per posterior tooth are scored (128 surfaces total).

Caries prevalence = (persons with ≥1 affected tooth ÷ persons examined) × 100; incidence requires new cases over a defined period divided by persons at risk.

Community Periodontal Index (CPI) scores sextants 0–4 using a WHO probe; score 4 indicates probing depth ≥6 mm.

Dean's fluorosis index ranks enamel fluorosis from 0 (normal) through 1 questionable, 2 very mild, 3 mild, 4 moderate, to 5 severe.

Root caries index = (root surfaces decayed + filled) ÷ (root surfaces decayed + filled + sound exposed root surfaces) × 100.

Fluoride varnish is typically 5% sodium fluoride (22,600 ppm F); professional application is recommended at least every 6 months for caries-active patients.

Water fluoridation is adjusted to 0.7 mg/L in the United States; the anticaries effect is primarily posteruptive (topical) rather than systemic.

Sensitivity = TP ÷ (TP + FN); specificity = TN ÷ (TN + FP); a highly sensitive screening test minimizes false negatives.

Positive predictive value = TP ÷ (TP + FP) and varies with disease prevalence, unlike sensitivity and specificity.

Number needed to treat = 1 ÷ absolute risk reduction; absolute risk reduction = control event rate − treatment event rate.

Attributable risk (risk difference) = incidence in exposed − incidence in unexposed; population attributable fraction estimates the share of disease from an exposure.

Age-adjusted rates use a standard population to remove confounding by age when comparing communities with different age structures.

An outbreak is an excess of cases above expected baseline; epidemic curve shape (point source vs propagated) informs the mode of transmission.

Primary prevention precedes disease (fluoride, sealants); secondary is early detection (screening); tertiary limits disability (restorative care, rehabilitation).

A screening program is justified when the condition is important, has a detectable latent stage, an acceptable test, and effective early treatment exists.

Sealant retention is highest on permanent molars; fully erupted molars with deep pits and fissures are the priority target group.

The basic screening survey (BSS) records untreated caries and treatment need visually without radiographs, making it suitable for community-level estimates.

Early childhood caries is defined as one or more decayed, missing, or filled primary tooth surfaces in children under 6 years.

The Significant Caries Index (SiC) averages DMFT of the one-third of the population with the highest scores, highlighting caries polarization.

Community water fluoridation reduces caries by roughly 25% across the lifespan and is cost-saving in communities above about 1,000 people.

Fluoride mouthrinse (0.05% NaF daily or 0.2% weekly) is used for school-based programs in non-fluoridated areas.

The PUFA index records pulpal involvement, ulceration, fistula, and abscess to capture severe untreated caries sequelae.

Healthy People targets use measurable objectives with baselines and 10-year targets to track national oral health progress.

Incidence measures new cases over a period; prevalence measures all existing cases at a point or period and equals incidence × duration in steady state.

Relative risk = incidence in exposed ÷ incidence in unexposed; odds ratio approximates RR when disease is rare.

A cohort study yields incidence and relative risk directly; a case-control study yields odds ratios and is efficient for rare outcomes.

Herd immunity threshold ≈ 1 − 1/R0; higher R0 requires higher coverage to interrupt transmission.

Cost-effectiveness analysis expresses results as cost per health outcome (e.g., cost per caries-free year); cost-benefit compares costs and benefits in monetary terms.

The epidemiologic triangle comprises host, agent, and environment; a vector or vehicle is a mode of transmission within the environment component.

Medicaid EPSDT and community health center programs are common public financing mechanisms for pediatric oral health services.

Randomization and blinding reduce selection and information bias; confounding is addressed by randomization, restriction, matching, or stratification.

The International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) scores caries from 0 (sound) through 6 (extensive cavitation into dentin).

The Community Fluorosis Index (CFI) is a weighted mean of Dean's scores across a population; values above 0.6 are considered a public health concern.

Untreated caries is the most prevalent noncommunicable disease globally; the WHO recommends population-level fluoride and sugar-reduction policies.

The oral health-related quality of life measure OHIP-14 has 14 items across 7 domains and is used to assess functional and psychosocial impact.

Sugar-sweetened beverage taxation and front-of-pack labeling are population-level strategies consistent with WHO guidance on free sugars below 10% of energy.

Dental indices must be valid, reliable, and reproducible; calibration and kappa statistics quantify inter-examiner agreement.

The ten essential public health services span assessment, policy development, and assurance; oral health is integrated across all three.

A logic model links inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact; process evaluation measures activities, outcome evaluation measures results.

SMART objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound; they anchor program planning and evaluation.

The PRECEDE-PROCEED model is a planning framework linking predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors to health behavior change.

Community water fluoridation cost per person decreases as population served increases; small systems have higher per-capita costs.

Health literacy and cultural competence are determinants of program uptake; materials should be written at or below a sixth-grade reading level.

Surveillance systems collect, analyze, and disseminate data continuously; they differ from one-time surveys by their ongoing, systematic nature.

Equity-focused planning allocates resources by need (e.g., caries prevalence, access barriers) rather than equal distribution across populations.