ABSTRACT

The aims of this study were to quantity the effect of fatigue due to daily hard work on cephalometric measurement error (Intra-examiner) and to compare the reproducibility of cephalometric measurements (Inter-examiner) made by three orthodontic residents with differing years of experience. Thirty-two commonly used cephalometric measurements were done on 30 cephalograms. Each observer digitized the radiographic images and analyzed each lateral cephalogram for three times. First and third measurements were done in the morning before beginning to the daily routine hard work at 09:00. The second measurement of each examiner was done nearly at the end of the working day at 16:30. Intra-examiner errors were calculated using analysis of variance on repeated measurements. Of the 32 analysis investigated, reproducibility of results was satisfactory for all parameters (P>0.05). No significant differences have been observed between three measurements for three observers, which were done at different times of working day. For analysis of inter-examiner error, the first measurement of each examiner was used. The differences between each observer were evaluated with analysis of variance. It was found that, there was no significance between each observer (P>0.05) for all of parameters calculated. The physical and mental fatigue due to daily hard work and experience are not important factors on reproducibility of cephalometric measurements.