Date: February 2016 (ONLINE AHEAD OF PRINT).
Source: Angle Orthodontist
Objective: To evaluate the intraexaminer repeatability and interexaminer reproducibility of soft tissue landmarks on three-dimensional (3D) stereophogrammetric images.
Materials and Methods: Thirty-four stereophotogrammetric images were taken and 19 soft tissue points were identified. The images were obtained using the 3dMDface (3dMD, Atlanta, USA) system. Two examiners marked 34 images manually with a mouse-driven cursor 4 weeks apart. Intraexaminer marking differences were calculated and classified as 1 mm. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated for intraexaminer reliability. A paired-samples t-test was used to evaluate the difference between the examiners. Interexaminer reproducibility was evaluated by kappa analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < .05.
Results: Only one landmark (labiale superior) had an intraexaminer marking difference less than 0.5 mm. Existing landmarks had an intraexaminer difference less than 1 mm, but higher than 0.5 mm. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated good intraexaminer repeatability for both observers. The ICC range for examiners 1 and 2 was 0.986–1.000 and 0.990–1.000, respectively. Kappa scores showed good interexaminer agreement, especially on the z-axis.
Conclusions: Except labiale superior, the soft tissue landmarks used in this study were shown to have moderate reproducibility, but the difference between the landmarks was less than 1 mm, and they had clinically acceptable reproducibility.
Article: Reproducibility and reliability of three-dimensional soft tissue landmark identification using three-dimensional stereophotogrammetry.
Authors: Asli Baysal, Ahmet Oguz Sahan, Mehmet Ali Ozturk, Tancan Uysal, İzmir Katip Celebi Üniversitesi, Dişhekimliği Fakültesi, Ortodonti A.D., İzmir, 35640 Turkey.