Silness-Loe Plaque Index

Silness-Loe Plaque Index (Silness & Loe 1964): index of plaque thickness at the gingival margin.

Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.

Example

Surfaces scored 0
20
Surfaces scored 1
40
Surfaces scored 2
30
Surfaces scored 3
10

Result: Plaque Index 1.3 — fair oral hygiene.

The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.

What the result means

Per surface
0 no plaque, 1 film (only after disclosing/probing), 2 moderate visible deposits, 3 abundant soft matter. Index = mean of surface scores.
Bands
advisory: 0 excellent, 0.1-0.9 good, 1.0-1.9 fair, 2.0-3.0 poor oral hygiene.

What you enter

  • Surfaces scored 0 (no plaque)
  • Surfaces scored 1 (film)
  • Surfaces scored 2 (moderate)
  • Surfaces scored 3 (abundant)
How this is calculated

Silness J, Loe H. Periodontal disease in pregnancy. II. Correlation between oral hygiene and periodontal condition. Acta Odontol Scand. 1964;22:121-135. Read the source ↗

A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.

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Built by Clay Good. Source on GitHub.