Does articulating study casts make a difference to treatment planning?
OBJECTIVE
To assess whether articulating casts in centric relation (CR) compared with intercuspal position (ICP) makes a difference to treatment planning.


METHODS
Reliability analysis.


METHODS
Ten orthodontists.


METHODS
Twenty case vignettes were examined on three occasions: twice with the casts in ICP and once in CR. A series of dichotomous decisions were made relating to the treatment need and treatment mechanics.


METHODS
The changes in treatment decisions were examined. Intra-examiner agreement between the two hand-held cast assessments (H1 v. H2) and between the first set of hand-held casts compared with the articulated casts (H1 v. A1) were evaluated using the kappa statistic. The differences between the kappa statistics for H1 v. H2 and H1 v. A1 were then tested with the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank sum test.


RESULTS
The only statistically significant change in the kappa score between H1 v. H2 and H1 v. A1 was for the extraction decision (P= 0.007). No other statistically significant differences were found for the other treatment decisions, although trends were identified for orthognathic surgery and anchorage support decisions.


CONCLUSIONS
Routine articulation of study models for all orthodontic patients is not supported by the results of this study. Articulation of the study models did not affect the treatment planning decisions in a meaningful manner. Further work with selected samples is required to determine if articulation is helpful for specific malocclusions.
Ellis
P E
PE
Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield, UK. pamela@ellisteeth.demon.co.uk
Benson
P E
PE
D000328:Adult; D016302:Centric Relation; D003657:Decision Making; D018865:Dental Research; D006801:Humans; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D003765:Models, Dental; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000379:methods; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D006113:United Kingdom