Agreement among instruments of quantitative evaluation of the hard palate in children.
Luana Cristina Berwig, Mariana Marquezan, Jovana de Moura Milanesi and 6 others
PMID 34705925WHAT IT FOUND
Hard palate width measurements agree well across different tools, but depth measurements do not.
Clinicians cannot rely on calipers or bow dividers for palatal depth. Digital calipers are the most practical choice for width, while CBCT is preferred for accurate vertical assessment.
Key findings
01Transverse (width) measurements showed acceptable agreement between most instruments, particularly at the premolar levels.
02Vertical (depth) measurements showed poor agreement between instruments, with only one comparison reaching an acceptable reliability level.
03CBCT scans consistently produced smaller width measurements than those taken directly in the mouth or on plaster models.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study could not determine which instrument is best for measuring depth due to the overall poor agreement. Anatomical variations like palatal roughness and epithelium thickness likely contributed to the measurement discrepancies. The sample size was small (30 children), which may limit the generalizability of the findings. CBCT cannot visualize soft tissue margins, which explains the discrepancy in width measurements compared to clinical methods.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources are detailed in the provided text, though the study was approved by the Federal University of Santa Maria Ethics Committee.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all palatal measurement tools are interchangeable. While width measurements are consistent across calipers and bow dividers, depth measurements are highly unreliable with these tools. Using a caliper for depth may lead to inaccurate clinical assessments.