Comparative study of two computer software programs (Dolphin Imaging? and Nemotec?) and a manual method of cephalometric analysis for patients with dentofacial deformity class II

摘要

This study analyzed digital tracings obtained by two different computer software programs (Dolphin Imaging? and Nemotec?) and compare them to the manual method using cephalometric measurements SNA, SNB, Co-A, Co-Gn, anterior facial height, A-Nperp, Pg-Nperp and mandibular plane. Thirty Caucasian patients exhibiting mandibular retrognathia were analyzed and were submitted to orthognathic surgery to correct the deformity by bilateral sagittal split osteotomy. The cephalometric tracings were performed with lateral radiographs that were obtained a week prior to the surgery. The manual method and the Nemotec? software exhibited an excellent reliability in all measurements. However, the Dolphin Imaging? method exhibited low reliability in the anterior facial height, Co-A and Co-Gn measurements. For the measurements of A-Nperp, Pg-Nperp, Mandibular plan, SNA and SNB, there were no significant differences between the three methods studied. For theanterior facial height measurement, a statisticallysignificant difference was found between theDolphin Imaging? and Nemotec? methods,although not in relation to the manual method.For the Co-A and Co-Gn measurements, theDolphin Imaging? method exhibited a significantlylower mean than the other methods studied. Inmanual method, only the Co-Gn, Pg-Nperp andSNB measurements confirmed the diagnosis ofmandibular retrognathia and Nemotec? softwareprovided better results than Dolphin Imaging?.