Children's fingernail hygiene and length as predictors of carious teeth.

Two dental residents collected data on 104 randomly selected inner city children (ages 3 to 8 years old) from the Episcopal Hospital Pediatric Dental Clinic in Philadelphia in 2002. The purpose of this study was to produce a preliminary assessment of the plausibility of simple indicators of hygiene as predictors of dental health. Fingernail length was measured as 10 mm to 10 mm beyond the end of the fingertip. The cleanliness of fingernails was the number of nails with foreign matter under the nail. Residents quantified the number of decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMFT) according to ADA guidelines during regular clinic visits. The number of dirty fingernails, fingernail length and absolute value of fingernail length are statistically significant predictors of the number of DMFT. The combination of absolute value of fingernail length and the number of dirty fingernails yielded improved and statistically significant predictions of DMFT. The number of dirty fingernails had the most impact on predicted DMFT. Based on this observational study of a single population, it can be suggested that further study of simple hygiene indicators as predictors of dental health be conducted on children from diverse backgrounds.