Ultrasound Imaging of the Periodontium Complex: A Reliability Study

Carlos Alberto Figueredo; Lawrence H Le; Kim Cuong Nguyen; Thanh-Giang La; Edmond H M Lou; Neelambar R Kaipatur; Hollis Lai; Monica P Gibson; Carlos Flores-Mir; Paul W Major; Fabiana T Almeida

doi:10.1155/2023/5494429

Ultrasound Imaging of the Periodontium Complex: A Reliability Study

Int J Dent. 2023 Feb 16:2023:5494429. doi: 10.1155/2023/5494429. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
² Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Ultrasonography is a noninvasive, low-cost diagnostic tool widely used in medicine. Recent studies have demonstrated that ultrasound imaging might have the potential to be used intraorally to assess periodontal biomarkers.

Objectives: To evaluate the reliability of interlandmark distance measurements on intraoral ultrasound images of the periodontal tissues.

Materials and methods: Sixty-four patients from the graduate periodontics (n = 33) and orthodontics (n = 31) clinics were recruited. A 20 MHz handheld intraoral ultrasound transducer was used to scan maxillary and mandibular incisors, canines, and premolars. Distances between the alveolar bone crest and cementoenamel junction (ABC-CEJ), gingival thickness (GT), and alveolar bone thickness (ABT) were measured by 3 raters. The intercorrelation coefficient (ICC) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) were calculated among and between the raters. Raters also scored images according to quality.

Results: The ICC scores for intrarater reliability were 0.940 (0.932-0.947), 0.953 (0.945-0.961), and 0.859 (0.841-0.876) for ABC-CEJ, GT, and ABT, respectively. The intrarater MAD values were 0.023 (±0.019) mm, 0.014 (±0.005) mm, and 0.005 (±0.003) mm, respectively. The ICC scores for interrater reliability were 0.872 (95% CI: 0.836-0.901), 0.958 (95% CI: 0.946-0.968), and 0.836 (95% CI: 0.789-0.873) for ABC-CEJ, GT, and ABT, respectively. The interrater MAD values were 0.063 (±0.029) mm, 0.023 (±0.018) mm, and 0.027 (±0.012) mm, respectively.

Conclusions: The present study showed the high reliability of ultrasound in both intrarater and interrater assessments. Results suggest there might be a potential use of intraoral ultrasound to assess periodontium.