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[Accuracy of paralleling technique in measuring the depth of approximal infrabony pocket]
Dan Xu1, Jian Cai2, Hong-Chun Gong3
1Dept. of Periodontology, Nanjing Stoma-tological Hospital, The Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210000, China;Dept. of Stomatology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, Changzhou 213003, China.
Objective:
To assess the accuracy of paralleling technique in measuring the depth of approximal infrabony pocket after periodontal flap surgery by comparing the measured and actual depths.
Methods:
The study population included 26 patients with infrabony defects who had undergone periodontal flap surgery, bone graft surgery, and guided tissue regene-ration. The measured and actual depths of approximal infrabony pocket after periodontal flap surgery were compared. The 26 infrabony defects were categorized into the following groups according to tooth position: anterior teeth, premolar, and molar groups, and according to type of infrabony pocket: one-walled, two-walled, and three-walled infrabony pocket groups. Paired t-test was used to detect the difference between the two values.
Results:
Depth measurements of the approximal infrabony pocket depth of the anterior teeth and premolar were not significantly different (P>0.05), whereas those of the molar group were significantly different (P<0.05). In addition, depth measurements in one-walled and two-walled infrabony pocket groups showed no significant differences (P>0.05), whereas those in the three-walled infrabony pocket group were significantly different (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
Paral-leling technique can accurately measure the depth of approximal infrabony pockets of anterior teeth and premolar teeth that are one- or two-walled. However, this method cannot accurately measure the approximal infrabony pockets of molar teeth and three-walled infrabony pockets as indicated by significant differences in their depth measurements.
