Precision of computerized measurement of marginal alveolar bone height from bite-wing radiographs

The digitizer technique has previously shown good precision when applied to measurements of alveolar marginal bone height on unstandardized periapical radiographs of adults. In this study the precision of the digitizer technique was evaluated for direct measurement of alveolar bone height on unstandardized bite-wing radiographs of young subjects with intact cemento-enamel junctions. Measurements of the distance between the cemento-enamel junction and the alveolar crest at 432 sites gave an agreement of 96.5% within a margin of error of 0.3 mm. The T-test showed no significant difference between repeated measurements of the same site. Regression analysis showed that the order of magnitude of the distance between the landmarks did not influence the results. The mean difference between repeated readings of the same site was 0.09 mm at a confidence limit of 99.9%. The study confirms that the digitizer technique is a reliable method for measurement of alveolar bone height on unstandardized bite-wing radiographs of young subjects.