A comparative study on methods of measuring mesiodistal tooth diameters for interceptive orthodontic space analysis.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to find the most reliable method of measurement of mesiodistal tooth diameter.


METHODS
Measurements were made of all erupted permanent teeth of 14 orthodontic study casts. These measurements were made directly by using A) a digital calliper, B) measuring photocopies of casts with a calliper, C) a Magiscan Image Analysis using a photocopy of the casts. Measurements derived from the two methods were compared by statistical analysis.


RESULTS
These showed that the electronic digital calliper was the most reliable method of measuring mesiodistal tooth diameter using dental study casts. The measurement of photocopies was unreliable and the image analysis method had a too high error factor.
Al-Dashti
A A
AA
Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Division of Child Dental Health, Leeds Dental Institute, Leeds, England.
Cook
P A
PA
Curzon
M E
ME
D003308:Copying Processes; D003762:Dental Instruments; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D003765:Models, Dental; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013027:Space Maintenance, Orthodontic; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*