Reliability of Soft Tissue Analysis in Conventional and Digital Cephalographs

Aims: This study compared the reliability of measurements of soft tissue cephalometric analysis be- tween the direct digital and conventional cephalometric images using computerized cephalometric pro- gram and hand tracing. Materials and Methods: The adult sample consisted of (30) Iraqi subjects (females and males) with age ranged 18 - 25 years old, the samples satisfied the criteria of this study. Nine soft tissue measurements were recorded from lateral cephalometric radiographs using either hand tracing or digitally directly on the monitor. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic and stu- dent's t-test. Results: No significant differences were found between the conventional or hand tracing and digital cephalometric analysis. Conclusions: The analysis of soft tissue profile using digital cepha- lometric analysis is reliable as using the conventional method. Yet, the digital method had more benefit than the conventional method, such as reduction of the radiation dose and the image enhancement.