National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) Dental Hygienist Practice Test

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Prepare for the NBDHE Dental Hygienist Exam. Enhance your skills with comprehensive flashcards and multiple-choice questions, each with hints and explanations. Ace your test with confidence!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

In a dental study measuring caries, what does a higher deft index indicate?

Less carious lesions
A healthier population
More carious lesions
Better oral hygiene

The correct answer is: More carious lesions

A higher deft index indicates more carious lesions in a population being studied. The deft index quantifies dental caries, specifically in primary teeth, by counting the number of decayed (d), extracted (e), or filled (f) primary teeth. Each of these components reflects a negative aspect of dental health, showcasing that a larger number corresponds to a higher prevalence of caries within that population. Consequently, when the deft index is elevated, it signals that there is an increased occurrence of untreated tooth decay, thus correlating directly with poorer oral health outcomes. This understanding of the deft index is crucial for assessing and implementing dental care strategies in populations, especially children, where primary teeth are the focus.