Abstract
Unimpaired near vision is crucial in dentistry, but appropriate visual tests at dental working distance are not publicly available. The aim of this study was to validate a novel visual triage test for dentists that is easy to use and freely available. The near visual acuity at 300 mm of 106 dental professionals (aged 21-65 years) was assessed with 1) a validated near visual test for scientific purposes miniaturized on a microfilm; 2) an experimental test using a US $5 bill, in which the first five words of each line in the Lincoln Memorial frieze had to be read under a dental operating light. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.784 revealed a strong correlation between the two tests (p<0.0001). The ability to read six or more words in the memorial frieze meant there was a 94% chance of having a validated near visual acuity greater than or equal to the median score of the dentists tested. If none of the words could be read, the chance of having a near visual acuity below the median of the peer group was 89%. The influence of the dentists' age and experience on their visual performance reported in former studies was corroborated with this new test. The US $5 bill offers a simple and easily available near visual test to rank individuals' near vision relative to that of other dentists and to recognize the progression of presbyopia with increasing age.
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