Validation of Self‐reported Oral Health Measures

Abstract

Self-reports provide reasonably valid estimates for numbers of remaining teeth, fillings, root canal therapy, and fixed and removable prostheses. However, they appear to be less useful for the assessment of dental caries and periodontal disease in the two populations we have studied. There remains a need and potential to further develop self-report oral health measures that are valid for use in large population studies. Such self-report measures would yield great cost and time savings.