Aim: To evaluate relationships between frontal cephalograms and photographic measurements of Indian population with anthropometric measurements and if frontal photographic analysis could be utilized with precision for orthodontic diagnosis.
Material and methods: A cross-sectional ex vivo study was conducted on 300 subjects with age range of 18-25yrs. Standardized frontal cephalograms and photographs were obtained for all subjects and were analysed with Nemoceph 10.4.2 (Nemotec Dental Systems, Madrid, Spain) software program. Linear anthropometric measurements were recorded with the help of a digital Vernier caliper. 21 linear measurements were made, of which 10 were horizontal and 11 were vertical. Repeated measures of ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's Post hoc Analysis was used to compare mean values of horizontal and vertical parameters between 3 different methods. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: Statistically significant differences were found with most parameters. Between the analogous photographic, cephalometric and anthropometric measurements, only N'-Me' showed reliability with all three methods (p = 0.53,0.53,0.53).
Conclusion: The photographic method has proven to be a repeatable and reproducible tool for only few parameters. Therefore, it cannot be considered a reliable diagnostic tool.
Keywords: Frontal cephalogram; Nemoceph; Photogrammetry; Photographs.