Objective Quantification Method for Measuring In Vivo Accumulated Dental Plaque

¹ School of Dentistry, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA, and Veterans Administration Hospital, San Francisco, California 94121

Dental plaque was collected, dried, and weighed on a gold insert that fit into the buccal aspect of a posterior crown. The plaque weight was determined by calculating the difference between the postcollection insert weight and the precollection insert weight. This system for measurement of the dry weight of in vivo accumulated dental plaque was found to be a practical means of plaque quantification.