A dental myth bites the dust – no observable relation between the incidence of dental abscess and the weather and lunar phase: an ecological study

Table 1 Relationship between the incidence of odontogenic abscess and daily weather conditions or lunar activity by Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient

Variable	Correlation coefficient	p-value
Barometric pressure	−0.204	0.0001*
3-day mean barometric pressure	−0.203	0.0001*
Sunshine duration	−0.076	0.149
Biosynoptic weather class	−0.055	0.291
Lunar phase	−0.048	0.360
Precipitation	0.034	0.514
Relative humidity	0.034	0.523
Temperature	−0.020	0.700

*Significance at p < 0.006 (after Bonferroni adjustment for multiple testing) using Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient. Notably, the mean daily barometric and 3-day mean barometric pressure were correlated because the 3-day parameter includes daily barometric pressure data.

ISSN: 1472-6831