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Is measurement of the gingival biotype reliable? Agreement among different assessment methods
L Aguilar-Duran1, J Mir-Mari, R Figueiredo
1Faculty of Dentistry, University of Barcelona, Campus de Bellvitge Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, UFR Odontologia C/ Feixa Llarga, s/n Pavelló de Govern, 2ª planta, Despatx 2.9 08907, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain rui@ruibf.com.
Background:
To determine agreement among the most commonly used methods for assessing the gingival biotype.
Material And Methods:
An electronic survey was sent to a sample of dentists practicing in Spain. The questionnaire was based on the evaluation of 5 cases involving different gingival biotype assessment methods. Dentists were required to classify the cases as having a "thin", "thick" or "not able to classify" biotype. Each case was assessed using a frontal intraoral photo of the anterior teeth; an enlarged photo of the buccal aspect of the tooth with a periodontal probe inserted inside the sulcus; and the real thickness measured in mm with a calibrated needle. Agreement among the classifications was assessed using Cohen's kappa coefficient.
Results:
A total of 104 surveys were analyzed. The most commonly used assessment method was visual evaluation of the morphology of the gingiva and the teeth (62.5%). Concordance among the three different methods was weak (kappa = 0.278). Agreement among the classification methods was greater in extreme cases (thinner and thicker gingival thickness).
Conclusions:
The most commonly used methods for assessing gingival biotype are not reliable. The three tested methods show poor to weak agreement, which leads to non-reliable estimation of the gingival biotype.
