Radiographic measurement of alveolar bone loss: a perspective in vitro

In the present study, radiographs of a model simulating several degrees of alveolar bone height were taken at different vertical projection angles. Bone height was measured by three examiners utilizing a projection technique similar to that originally employed by Björn et al. (1966, 1969). Correlation coefficients of inter- and intra-examiner readings were found to be statistically significant. The 95% confidence interval of the mean deviation between the observed bone height and the true bone height was less than 5.5%. Further investigations are planned to determine whether this method of quantitating the information on radiographs exposed under various conditions is applicable in clinical practice.