Reliability of probing depth assessments at healthy implant sites and natural teeth

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the intra- and inter-examiner reliability in the assessment of probing depth (PD) measurements at healthy dental implant sites and periodontally healthy natural teeth.

Materials and methods: Five patients exhibiting 21 dental implants were enrolled in the study. Eight experienced examiners performed duplicate PD measurements at six sites of all implants and of preselected natural teeth. Intra-examiner accuracy was estimated using intra-examiner correlation coefficients (ICCs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A gold standard (GS) examiner was set. Inter-examiner accuracy compared to the GS examiner was assessed using pairwise inter-examiner ICCs.

Results: The intra-examiner ICC ranged from 0.759 (95% CI, 0.692-0.812) to 0.863 (95% CI, 0.826-0.892) for the measurements at teeth and from 0.712 (95% CI, 0.580-0.800) to 0.841 (95% CI, 0.774-0.888) for the PDs assessed at implants. The inter-examiner ICCs for tooth measurements varied from 0.197 (95% CI, - 0.280 to 0.511) to 0.791 (95% CI, 0.560-0.892). The corresponding values for the assessments at implants varied from 0.576 (95% CI, 0.286-0.734) to 0.794 (95% CI, 0.708-0.855).

Conclusions: The intra- and inter-examiner reproducibility of repeated PD measurements assessed by experienced examiners tended to be higher for the measurements at periodontally healthy teeth compared to healthy dental implant sites.

Clinical relevance: Experienced examiners demonstrated a higher degree of reliability of probing measurements around teeth compared to dental implants.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Peri-implant tissues; Periodontal probing; Probing depth; Validity reliability.