Dental caries indices for primary teeth: the need to comply with international recommendations

This paper illustrates inconsistent use of abbreviations in indices employed to assess caries prevalence and incidence in the primary dentition. Possible consequences of this practice are discussed and it is suggested that authors, editoris and referees for dental journals should accept and adhere to internationally agreed upon definitions of these indices. As long as there is disagreement on the use of the dmf and def indices these initials should be defined under "methods".