title: Comparison of the reproducibility of panoramic radiographs between dentulous and edentulous patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to evaluate the reproducibility of panoramic radiographs of dentulous and edentulous patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The reproducibility of panoramic radiographs was evaluated using the panoramic radiographs acquired from 30 anterior dentulous patients by using a common biting positioning device (dentulous group) and 30 anterior edentulous patients by using chin-support devices to take a panoramic radiograph (edentulous group), respectively; these patients had undergone 3 or more panoramic radiographs. The widths and angles between the designated landmarks were measured on the panoramic radiographs, and the reproducibility was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the coefficient of variation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the dentulous and edentulous groups, the ICCs of the mandibular ramus and mandibular angle areas were higher than the condylar head and zygomatic areas. The mandibular ramus and angle areas showed statistically lower mean coefficients of variation than the condylar head and zygomatic areas in the dentulous group. The mandibular angle area showed a significantly lower mean coefficient of variation than the zygomatic area in the edentulous group. By comparing the two groups, each ICC of the edentulous group was lower than that of the dentulous group, and the mean coefficients of variation of the mandibular ramus area, zygomatic area, left condylar inclination, and ramus ratio between the right and the left in the edentulous group were significantly higher than those in the dentulous group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Biting positioning for dentulous patients provided better positioning reproducibility than chin-support positioning when performing panoramic radiography for edentulous patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Hoe
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Won-Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Suk
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sam-Sun
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Soon-Chul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: Radiography, Panoramic; Reliability of Results; Reproducibility of Results