Differences in epidemiological findings when changing from the Anglepoise desk lamp to the Daray Versatile Medical Light.

The effect on epidemiological findings arising from changing from an Anglepoise desk lamp to a Daray Versatile Medical Light was studied using 155 school children aged between 11 and 14 years. The children were examined on separate days using the two types of illumination. Differences observed in DMFT, sealed teeth, gingival health, plaque and calculus were not significant. The mean DT (+/- SE) was 0.12 (+/- 0.03) for the Anglepoise desk lamp and 0.16 (+/- 0.04) for the Daray Versatile Medical Light, the difference between these values being significant (P < 0.05). The magnitude of the difference was small (0.04 DT, SE +/- 0.02) when compared with observed changes in the mean DT in 15-year-old children in the districts where the study took place between 1986 and 1990. The level of agreement ranged from very good (kappa = 0.81-1.00) for DMFT and components to fair for plaque (kappa = 0.32). It is concluded that there is no evidence from this study that changing the type of illumination from Anglepoise desk lamp to Daray Versatile Medical Light would affect markedly the results of dental prevalence surveys.