DMFT Index
Also written as: DMFT — Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth
An epidemiological index that quantifies the total caries experience of permanent teeth by summing the number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth in an individual.
Full Definition
The DMFT index is the most widely used metric in dental epidemiology to measure cumulative caries experience in permanent dentitions. Each tooth is scored as Decayed (D), Missing due to caries (M), or Filled (F), and the scores are summed to give a whole-number value between 0 and 28 (or 32 if third molars are included). The parallel index for primary teeth is the dmft (lowercase), and editors must be alert to case sensitivity: uppercase DMFT denotes permanent dentition, lowercase dmft denotes primary dentition. In research documents, the index must be defined at first use and the criteria for each component (D, M, F) referenced to the World Health Organization oral health survey methodology.
Usage
Usage note: Case is critical: DMFT = permanent teeth (uppercase); dmft = primary/deciduous teeth (lowercase). The surface-level variant is DMFS/dmfs. Always specify whether third molars are included in the denominator.
In Context
- "The mean DMFT score in the intervention group was 3.4 (SD 1.2), compared with 5.1 (SD 1.8) in the control group." — Epidemiological survey results
- "Note that the manuscript uses 'DMFT' to refer to primary teeth; this should be corrected to 'dmft' per WHO convention." — Peer-review editorial note