Reliability assessment and correlation analysis of evaluating orthodontic treatment outcome in Chinese patients

This study aimed to assess the reliability of experienced Chinese orthodontists in evaluating treatment outcome and to determine the correlations between three diagnostic information sources. Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontic specialists each evaluated the outcome of orthodontic treatment of 108 Chinese patients. Three different information sources： study casts （SC）, lateral cephalometric X-ray images （LX） and facial photographs （PH） were generated at the end of treatment for 108 patients selected randomly from six orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Six different assessments of treatment outcome were made by each orthodontist using data from the three information sources separately and in combination. Each assessment included both ranking and grading for each patient. The rankings of each of the 69 judges for the 108 patients were correlated with the rankings of each of the other judges yielding 13 873 Spearman rs values, ranging from -0.08 to ＋0.85. Of these, 90% were greater than 0.4, showing moderate-to-high consistency among the 69 orthodontists. In the combined evaluations, study casts were the most significant predictive component （R2=0.86, P〈0.000 1）, while the inclusion of lateral cephalometric films and facial photographs also contributed to a more comprehensive assessment （R2=0.96, P〈0.000 1）. Grading scores for SC＋LX and SC＋PH were highly significantly correlated with those for SC＋LX＋PH （r（SC＋LX）vs.（SC＋LX＋PH）=0.96, r（SC＋PH）vs.（SC＋LX＋PH）=0.97）, showing that either SC＋LX or SC＋PH is an excellent substitute for all three combined assessment,

经典的头影测量角度能否反映颌骨突度的实际变化

目的 讨论正畸临床常用的反映上下颌骨矢状位置的经典头影测量角度能否客观地反映上下颌骨突度的实际改变。方法 对 48例错患者治疗前后的头颅侧位片进行计算机头影测量 ,选择 3对反映上颌和下颌突度的角度及线距测量项目进行对比计数。结果 虽然角度测量与线距测量具有极显著意义的相关关系 ,但对比计数显示该 3对测量的不符合率分别达到 10 4%、2 2 9%和37 5 %。结论 单纯依据头影测量中的经典角度变化来评价上颌或下颌相对颅底的突度改变是不准确的。