REPRODUCIBILITY OF PERIODONTAL PROBING USING A CONVENTIONAL MANUAL AND AN AUTOMATED FORCE-CONTROLLED ELECTRONIC PROBE

A TOTAL OF 1,128 SITES in 15 periodontal maintenance patients were exa mined twice, 7 to 10 days apart, to evaluate reproducibility of period ontal probing by a conventional manual and an automated force-controll ed electronic probe. Probing depths (PD) and relative attachment level s (AL) were recorded to the nearest 0.5 mm with both instruments. At e ach visit, all sites were probed first with the conventional and then with the electronic probe. Reproducibility of PD at shallow sites (PD less than or equal to 3 mm) by the manual probe was 59.1% for exact ag reement and 98.6% within +/- 1.0 mm variation. For the electronic prob e, corresponding values were 41.3% and 91.5%, respectively. Reproducib ility of PD measurements at deeper sites (PD >3 mm), was 33.0% for exa ct match and 96.4% within +/- 1.0 mm for the manual and, corresponding ly, 31.7% and 85.9% for the electronic probe. Reproducibility of AL fo llowed a similar pattern, but was consistently lower than for PD. Repr oducibility was consistently higher for anterior than for posterior si tes and, for some comparisons, higher in the maxilla than in the mandi ble. These differences were smaller for the manual than for the electr onic probe. Time required to complete the probing was longer for the c onventional probe than for the electronic instrument. Under the prevai ling study conditions, the automated force-controlled electronic probe failed to offer significant advantages over the conventional manual p robe.