HEALTH INDEX OF THE TEETH

¹ DeLamar Institute of Public Health, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, N. Y.

Modifications have been suggested in the use of the initials DMF (decayed, missing and filled teeth) so as to bring the statistics of dental health into closer agreement with the statistical practices prevailing in other fields of human biology.

The possible advantages of these modifications have been illustrated with data from the United States Public Health Service and the New Jersey State Health Department.

A Dental Health Index has been suggested and a method described whereby the Health Index and the caries Attack Rates can be directly compared.

The term Biodenture has been suggested as suitable, for statistical purposes, to describe the accumulation of the natural teeth in the mouth with the major problems and the metabolic, physiologic and pathologic facts pertaining thereto.