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The development of a method for functional assessment of dentures
Author(s) -
Corrigan PJ,
Basket RM,
Farrin AJ,
Mulley GP,
Heath MR
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
gerodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1741-2358
pISSN - 0734-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2358.2002.00041.x
Subject(s) - dentures , medicine , reliability (semiconductor) , protocol (science) , dentistry , cohen's kappa , kappa , orthodontics , alternative medicine , machine learning , pathology , computer science , power (physics) , linguistics , physics , philosophy , quantum mechanics
Aims: To design and validate a method of assessing complete dentures from a functional standpoint. Subjects: A random sample of 40 complete denture wearers took part in the study. Setting: A university clinical department of prosthetic dentistry. Intervention: We undertook a pilot study to refine the protocol and criteria. All participants and their dentures were examined by two authors independently, with no prior knowledge of the patients'complaints. Design: We defined nine clinical factors of functional quality and applied criteria with binary scoring. We analysed the scores for these factors for inter‐rater reliability. Results: The method proved simple to apply and took less than 5 minutes to complete. The inter‐examiner agreement for all factors was 86% to 100% giving Kappa scores of 0.64 to 1.00 (all Good or Very Good). Conclusions: This study successfully demonstrates that the technique, which we call the Functional Assessment of Dentures (FAD), can give good inter‐examiner reliability. It can therefore be used separately as a routine diagnostic tool and to investigate the relationship between denture qualities and functional ‘outcome’ such as difficulty eating or dietary selection.