Evaluation of the use of orthodontic records to measure the width of keratinized tissue
The aim of this article was to compare the widths of the keratinized gingiva calculated from photographs and study models with direct clinical measures. The researchers took maxillary and mandibular study models and photographs from 33 patients. The width of the keratinized tissue of the four mandibular incisors was measured using a UNC #15, employing the wrinkle method. The width of the tissue was calculated for the same teeth from projected slides and casts of each patient, using the Caotoam method. [Actual width of = Width of clinical crown from casts keratinized gingiva Width of clinical crown from projected slide x Width of keratinized gingiva from projected slide]
The investigators found that the average difference between the clinical measurement and the orthodontic records was small, with no clinical significance. It would seem then that carefully taken photographic slides and plaster casts do offer an accurate assessment of the width of keratinized tissue. This gives the clinician the ability to go back in time and recover valid pretreatment measures that could be of significant use to both clinicians and researchers. [M.C.R.]
Trentini, C., J. Moriarty, C. Phillips, and C.Tulloch, J Periodont, 66:438, 1995