Evaluation of a photographic method for diagnosis of gingivitis and caries

The aim of the present study was to determine the value of a photographic method when diagnosing gingivitis and caries. 78 patients participated in the investigation. The validity of the photographic method could not be established, since the reproducibility of the clinical diagnosis was not 100%. Instead, the value of the method was determined by comparing the reproducibility of the clinical and the photographic diagnosis. For gingivitis the intra- and inter-examiner reproducibilities were best for the photographic readings. For caries the reproducibility of the clinical diagnosis was highest. The photographic method was not limited by method variation when diagnosing redness of the gingiva and caries. However, limitations due to variation were present when diagnosing gingival swelling. The paper also describes the bias reducing capacity of the photographic method.