title: In vitro evaluation of T-Scan®III through study of the sensels.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the validity and reliability of the T-Scan®III sensors system by measuring force and time in sensels.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to evaluate the validity, known forces were applied to 31 sensels selected at random of a T-Scan® III sensor. In order to evaluate the reliability, the existing agreement between two different sensors was measured. Both validity and reliability were assessed using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the McBride's scale, for the total group of sensels, by measuring force, a poor level of validity was obtained (Lin's CCC:0.698); when measuring time, an almost perfect agreement was obtained (Lin's CCC: 0.9995). In contrast, the reliability level was poor (Lin's CCC: 0.099).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The T-Scan®III system neither shows an appropriate degree of validity when estimating absolute force, nor presents an adequate level of reliability when measuring relative force; however, it presents a high degree of validity when quantifying times.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and Science, Department of Physical Sciences, Universidad de La Frontera , Chile.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cerna
authors.forename: Roxana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zaror
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sandoval
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007574:Jaw Relation Record / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008422:Materials Testing; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Bite force; Reliability; Sensels; T-Scan®III; Validity