Reliability of cephalometric measurements utilized in evaluation of the vertical facial dimension

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University.

Abstract

Objectives: the objective of the current study was to assess the reliability of five vertical cephalometric measurements. Materials and Methods: The study used 40 digital lateral cephalographs of subjects with skeletal class 1, accepted normal occlusion, and balanced profile. Each cephalograph was traced and five measurements for evaluating the vertical facial dimension were used; (1) FMA angle, (2) SN-MP angle, (3) Y-axis angle, (4) LFH/TFH, and (5) PFH/TFH. The data was tested for normality and correlations were tested. Results: There were no differences between the female and male groups for the five measurements. All five measurements did not show systematic errors and the casual errors were all almost within 1 measurement unit. Results showed moderate to high correlation between FMA and both SN-MP (r= 0.52) and Y-axis angle (r=0.57) while LFH/TFH showed moderate to high correlation with both PFH/TFH (r= 0.59) and SN-MP (r= 0.60). Conclusions: FMA and LFH/TFH showed more symmetrical and better clustering of the measurements. All five measurements showed causal errors within acceptable clinical level. The results suggest that FMA is better confirmed by other angular measurements; LFH/TFH and PFH/TFH are better confirmed by the SN-MP angle.

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