Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability between dental hygiene students and a supervising dentist using the Mallampati classification to evaluate and classify the pharyngeal soft tissues.
Methods: A sample of 234 patients volunteered for the study. Mallampati classifications were performed by 21 dental hygiene students for patients during a 12 month period. During that same time period, the clinic dentist performed an independent assessment on the same patients. Quantitative research methods were used to evaluate the inter-rater reliability between dental hygiene students and the clinical dentist in performing the Mallampati classification. The data was analyzed using adjusted McNemar test for non-independent data, Kappa score and percentage of agreement with 95% bootstrap confidence interval.
Results: There was an agreement between the dental hygiene student and the dentist in the majority of the independent assessments with a p-value=0.498 from the adjusted McNemar test. Inter-rater agreement measured by Cohen's Kappa coefficient was 0.54 with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval of 0.42, 0.64. The percentage agreement was around 77% with a 95% confidence interval of 72%, 82%.
Conclusion: It was concluded that dental hygiene students can evaluate and classify the pharyngeal soft tissues comparable to a supervising dentist in the clinical dental hygiene setting.
- mallampati classification
- obstructive sleep apnea
- clinical dental hygiene education
- inter-rater reliability
Footnotes
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Diane P. Kandray, RDH, MEd, is an associate professor and pre-clinical/clinical instructor in the Dr. Madeleine Haggerty Dental Hygiene Program, Department of Health Professions at the Bitonte College of Health & Human Services, Youngstown State University. Mary Yacovone, MEd, RRT, is an associate professor and Program Director of the BSRC & Polysomnography Certificate Program in the Department of Health Professions at the Bitonte College of Health & Human Services, Youngstown State University. G. Andy Chang, PhD, is a professor and Statistics Program Coordinator in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Biostatistics Core Course Director of the Consortium of Eastern Ohio Universities Master of Public Health Program, at Youngstown State University. Debbie Juruaz, DDS, is a professor and clinical coordinator in the Dr. Madeleine Haggerty Dental Hygiene Program, Department of Health Professions at The Bitonte College of Health & Human Services, Youngstown State University.
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This study supports the NDHRA priority area, Clinical Dental Hygiene Care: Investigate how dental hygienists identify patients who are at–risk for oral/systemic disease.
- Copyright © 2013 The American Dental Hygienists’ Association