A modified tongue coating index

Abstract

Tongue coating is an essential predictor of a number of systemic diseases of bed-ridden patients. Their gen­eral status puts limitations on the diagnostic facilities and calls for the use of an easily applicable tongue coating criteria/index. The authors` objective was to propose a modified index for the extent of tongue coat­ing based on a conventional method study performed on bed-ridden chronic kidney disease (CKD) pa­tients and CKD patients undergoing regular renal treatment. The units of observation were 70 patients, aged 60±28.5 years. All patients underwent thorough extra- and intraoral examinations. Tongue coating was tested by two methods: using the Tongue Coating Index as per Kojima et al. (1985), and using the au­thors` modified index. The data analysis showed that coating of varying degrees was observed in 100% of patients. The chi-square test of independence (incorporating Yates`s correction for continuity) revealed that there was not a statistically significant correlation between the extent of tongue coating and patients` gen­der (I‡2 (df=1, n=70) = 0.826, p=0.36), however, there was a dependency on patients` age. The second set of tests based on the proposed index matched the results of the first examination using Kojima`s Index. The I‡2 test of independence proved a strong statistically significant correlation between the two indices (I‡2 (df=3, n=70)=44.877, p<0.01, Kendall`s coefficient (tau-b) = 0.714, Spearman`s coefficient = 0.772). Conclusion: The modified Tongue Coating Index is easily accessible and applicable in common dental practices.