The Comparison of Computer Aided Digital Cephalometric Radiograph with Manual Tracing

AIM & OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare the reliability of landmark identification between computer aided digital cephalometric radiographs using ‘facad’ software and hand tracing of digital cephalometric radiographs MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty digital pre-treatment lateral cephalometric radiographs were randomly selected from the patient’s record room at the Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics Narsinhbhai Patel Dental College and Hospital, Visnagar, Gujarat. Landmarks were identified both in manual and digitized tracings. 8 Linear and 10 Angular measurements were calculated from the co-ordinates of cephalometric landmarks and comparison done. All the lateral cephalograms were scanned at 300 dpi with scanner with transparency adapter and digitized onscreen. The digital radiographs were manually traced and digital images were transferred to a computer, using a FACAD program. The results were then tabulated in Microsoft excel the level of significance (p-value) was 0.05. Paired t-test was performed using SPSS software 22 for comparison between tracing done by manual method and by Facad Software. RESULTS: A comparison of both methods showed statistically significant differences only for six out of eighteen measurements. These were facial angle, occlusal plane to SN angle, interincisal angle, cant of occlusal plane, Go – Gn to SN angle and Ar – Go plane. Thus it can be concluded that digital tracing with Facad Software is efficient for clinical purposes and comparable with manual cephalometric tracings. CONCLUSION: From these results we can conclude that both Linear and Angular measurements were accurate and reliable. Except, few measurements showing highly significant differences, the validity of the measurements with the Facad software and with the conventional method are highly correlated.