Biomaterial Database

Effect of training and experience on cephalometric measurement errors on surgical patients. 1997

P Y Lau, and M S Cooke, and U Hägg

Department of Children's Dentistry and Orthodontics, University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, Hong Kong.

The aim of this study was to quantify and compare the cephalometric measurement errors (interexaminer errors) between two orthodontic residents and two oral and maxillofacial surgical residents with differing years of experience. It was hypothesized that the measurement errors would differ between observers with different training backgrounds and experience and that this would lead to significant disagreements in the cephalometric assessment of patients to receive combined orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment. Thirty cephalograms were used in the evaluation. Each examiner independently digitized all cephalograms twice. Common cephalometric skeletal and dental variables, 18 angular and 9 linear, were measured. Interexaminer errors were calculated using two-sample t tests for every pair of examiners. The interexaminer error was large in both landmark identification and in angular and linear measurements. The amount of error did not depend on training or experience but probably on individual conception of landmark definition and perception of landmark location. Methods to limit interexaminer measurement errors are described.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009970	Orthodontics	A dental specialty concerned with the prevention and correction of dental and oral anomalies (malocclusion).
D011897	Random Allocation	A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects.	Randomization,Allocation, Random
D002508	Cephalometry	The measurement of the dimensions of the HEAD.	Craniometry
D003951	Diagnostic Errors	Incorrect or incomplete diagnoses following clinical or technical diagnostic procedures.	Diagnostic Blind Spots,Errors, Diagnostic,Misdiagnosis,Blind Spot, Diagnostic,Blind Spots, Diagnostic,Diagnostic Blind Spot,Diagnostic Error,Error, Diagnostic,Misdiagnoses
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D013515	Surgery, Oral	A dental specialty concerned with the diagnosis and surgical treatment of disease, injuries, and defects of the human oral and maxillofacial region.	Exodontics,Surgery, Maxillofacial,Maxillofacial Surgery,Oral Surgery
D015588	Observer Variation	The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).	Bias, Observer,Interobserver Variation,Intraobserver Variation,Observer Bias,Inter-Observer Variability,Inter-Observer Variation,Interobserver Variability,Intra-Observer Variability,Intra-Observer Variation,Intraobserver Variability,Inter Observer Variability,Inter Observer Variation,Inter-Observer Variabilities,Inter-Observer Variations,Interobserver Variabilities,Interobserver Variations,Intra Observer Variability,Intra Observer Variation,Intra-Observer Variabilities,Intra-Observer Variations,Intraobserver Variabilities,Intraobserver Variations,Observer Variations,Variabilities, Inter-Observer,Variabilities, Interobserver,Variabilities, Intra-Observer,Variabilities, Intraobserver,Variability, Inter-Observer,Variability, Interobserver,Variability, Intra-Observer,Variability, Intraobserver,Variation, Inter-Observer,Variation, Interobserver,Variation, Intra-Observer,Variation, Intraobserver,Variation, Observer,Variations, Inter-Observer,Variations, Interobserver,Variations, Intra-Observer,Variations, Intraobserver,Variations, Observer