Abstract
In our epidemiological investigations of the gingivitis in school children in the past few years, it has been our experience that a certain subjective judgment is bound to occur in the assessment of findings by different individuals.
The present survey was undertaken with the thought that the elucidation of thses individual differences would put our data in better perspective and, at the same time, would provide a useful tool for comparing our own data with others.
Five examiners were instructed to work on a total of 81 school children without any previous training to bring their respective PMA findings into standardized ratings. The examiners were given a simple briefing at a meeting and left to their own devices. The result was that there was seen a wide degree of individual differences; some found a larger incidence of PMA in the anterior region, while others found the upper jaw more frequent than the lower.
It was definitely revealed that data collected by a more experienced examiner gave more stable findings than the inexperienced.
It is concluded that, in comparing our data with others, it is necessary that sufficient care be given to the degree of individual differences on the part of the examiners.
