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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Effect of patient age awareness on diagnostic agreement of chronic or aggressive periodontitis between clinicians; a
Sarah Oshman1, Edgard El Chaar2, Yoonjung Nicole Lee2
1New York University College of Dentistry, Advanced Education Program in Periodontics, 345 East 24th Street, New York, NY, 10016, USA. Sro245@nyu.edu.
Background:
The aim of this pilot study was to test whether diagnostic agreement of aggressive and chronic periodontitis amongst Board Certified Periodontists, is influenced by knowledge of a patient's age. In 1999 at the International World Workshop age was removed as a diagnostic criteria for aggressive periodontitis. The impact of this change on the diagnostic reliability amongst clinicians has not yet been assessed.
Methods:
Nine periodontal case reports were twice presented to sixteen board certified periodontists, once with age withheld and again with patient age provided. Participants were instructed to choose a diagnosis of Chronic Periodontitis or Aggressive Periodontitis. Diagnostic agreement was calculated using the Fleiss Kappa test.
Results:
Including the patients' age in case report information increased diagnostic agreement (the kappa statistic) from 0.49 (moderate agreement) to 0.61 (substantial agreement).
Conclusion:
These results suggest that knowledge of a patients' age influenced clinical diagnosis, when distinguishing between aggressive periodontitis and chronic periodontitis, which may in turn impact treatment decision-making.
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