Testing the Uniformity of the P-M-a Index as a Measurement of Periodontal Disease

Abstract

The P-M-A index as a measurement of periodontal disease of adults, suffers from theoretical deficiencies. A test of the measurement demonstrated that the findings of 8 dentists upon examinations of the same group of adult patients, tend to be widely divergent. That different dentists do not agree upon the measurement does not preclude its use by a single observer, but any comparison of observations made by different dentists must be made with extreme caution.