title: How orthodontic records can influence torque choice decisions?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of records can influence intra- and inter-rated agreement on torque choices made to treat a group of patients with various malocclusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight patients were presented to five orthodontic specialists in three different occasions. During the first session, the participants were shown only the models and intraoral photos of the patients; extraoral photos were added during the second session, and cephalometric X-rays were further supplemented during the third session. Mean weighted kappa coefficients were calculated to measure agreement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The inter-observer agreement was low with the mean coefficients measured:κ1 = 0.34 (SD ± 0.09), κ2 = 0.57 (SD ± 0.12), and κ3 = 0.54 (SD ± 0.28) for the three attempts, respectively. The mean kappa coefficients for the intra-rater agreement were also low ranging from 0.18 to 0.66 and the mean coefficients were 0.27 (SD ± 0.11) between first and second, and 0.53 (SD ± 0.11) between second and third attempt, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that the addition of extraoral photographs, and subsequently cephalograms to plaster models and intraoral photos, does affect intra-, and inter-rater agreement on torque selection. It seems that the addition of extraoral photos plays a more important role in torque selection decisions than lateral cephalograms. Different clinicians do not have a uniform opinion on the size of torque required to treat cases. Further research is required to define rules on torque choices.
authors.affiliation: GF - ORHE - Orthodontics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mavreas
authors.affiliation: GF - ORHE - Orthodontics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and.
authors.forename: Enya
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kuppens
authors.affiliation: GF - BISI - Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buyl
authors.affiliation: GF - ORHE - Orthodontics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and bart.vande.vannet@vub.ac.be.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vande Vannet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D003792:Dental Records; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D003765:Models, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015588:Observer Variation; D016910:Orthodontic Brackets / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D023861:Photography, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D019415:Torque; D055815:Young Adult