A laboratory assessment of recording reliability and analysis of the K6 Diagnostic System

This laboratory study investigated the recording reliability and analysis of the K6 Diagnostic System, a computerized instrument that records mandibular movements in three planes. Two special devices were utilized for this purpose, one commercially available and the other designed and constructed by the authors. These devices could produce linear movements and simulate head and mandibular movements, respectively. The largest distortion of the simulated mandibular movements was found in the frontal plane tracings of simulated chewing patterns. For the linear movements in an x-axis, the error of the analyzed K6 system ranged from 9.4% to 30% and in a z-axis from 0% to 15%. A considerable degree of head movement was required to produce a significant error on the K6 measurements.