title: Root coverage assessment: validity and reproducibility of an image analysis system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this methodological study was to validate a new method for root coverage evaluation following periodontal plastic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty recessions were treated in 21 consecutive patients, using a subepithelial connective tissue graft technique. Clinical measurements and photographs were taken at baseline and 12+/-6 months after treatment. The mean percentage of root coverage for linear and surface area measurements was calculated using conventional clinical evaluation, and compared with ImageJ, a public domain Java image processing program. Bland-Altman plots were used for assessing repeatability and agreement between clinical and ImageJ measurements. The strength of the relationship was calculated using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The repeatability of ImageJ was excellent for both linear and surface area measurements. The agreement between clinical and ImageJ measurements was good for the linear evaluation, showing lower and upper limits of -13.14% and 17.42%, respectively. Significant correlations (p<0.001) were found between clinical and ImageJ measurements, ranging from 0.93 to 0.94 for linear evaluation, and from 0.89 to 0.90 for surface evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The outcomes of this study show that the ImageJ analysis is a reliable, reproducible method to evaluate the percentage of root coverage after periodontal plastic surgery, when a midfacial linear measurement is used.
authors: Department of Periodontology, Service of Odontology, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, AP-HP, Paris 7 - Denis Diderot University, U.F.R. of Odontology, Paris, France.
authors: Stéphane
authors: S
authors: Kerner
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Etienne
authors: Jacques
authors: J
authors: Malet
authors: Francis
authors: F
authors: Mora
authors: Virginie
authors: V
authors: Monnet-Corti
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Bouchard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D023861:Photography, Dental; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D014092:Tooth Root / Q000601:surgery*