Assessment of periodontal status with CPITN and conventional periodontal indices

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Abstract
This study compared CPITN with plaque index (PII), gingival index (GI), papilla bleeding index (PBI), and probeable pocket depth (PPD). 52 patients were examined, mean age 43 years. Partial mouth random recording (2 upper and 1 lower or 1 upper and 2 lower sextants) was made by CPITN of 150 sextants, and at 6 sites around each tooth in each sextant for each index using a pressure‐sensitive probe, with Newman tip and Williams markings, and a WHO 621 tip, probing pressure 0.25 N. Ranges of each index were compared with corresponding CPITN data. Most (71%) sextants had CPITN scores of 4, indicating periodontitis. None had CPITN scored 0 or 1. A given CPITN code was found to represent extremes of ranges for all other indices evaluated. There was no relation between CPITN and PII or GI, nor did CPITN reflect the number of sites affected per sextant, but there was a tendency for CPITN to relate with PBI and PPD. It was concluded that CPITN may be used as a general indicator of bleeding and pocket depth, but not of plaque or gingivitis. Other indices are required to reliably assess chronic inflammatory periodontal disease status in a given mouth.