Validity Of A Screening Questionnaire For Periodontal Disease In Korea

While clinical examination is crucial for diagnosing periodontal disease, achieving consistent and reliable evaluations remains challenging. Assessing the prevalence of periodontal disease through clinical examinations in large populations faces practical limitations due to high costs and specialized personnel requirements. The development of screening questionnaires has emerged as a cost-effective alternative approach. This study aimed to assess the validity of a screening questionnaire for evaluating periodontal health among Korean adults. This study involved 120 subjects aged 19 or older who underwent clinical examinations using the Community Periodontal Index. An English version of a screening questionnaire (10 items) for identifying periodontal disease was adapted and translated into Korean. The validity and reliability of this Korean version for periodontal disease were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis, and assessments of sensitivity and specificity. After adjusting for all confounders, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for item 3 (history of periodontal treatments, such as scaling or root planing) was 4.649 (95% confidence interval 1.223–17.670), with a diagnostic performance of AUC = 0.82, sensitivity = 93%, specificity = 42%. The combination of Item 1 (self-awareness of gum disease), Item 3, and Item 10 (history of periodontal surgery) demonstrated optimal predictive power compared to the model that included all items (AUC = 0.86, sensitivity = 86%, specificity = 26%). We identified key components of a screening questionnaire for periodontal diseases, demonstrating the potential for identifying individuals with periodontal disease in a national oral health screening survey.