PALATAL MEASUREMENTS OF PREMATURELY BORN, VERY-LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT INFANTS - COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS

To enable investigation of palatal changes in infants who are prematur ely born, it is necessary to first establish a reliable method of meas urement of these tiny edentulous palates. This study compared the Oliv etti-Inspector machine, Vernier calipers, and stereophotogrammetry for this purpose. Measurements were taken of 12 palatal casts of four inf ants at prescribed time intervals during the neonatal period. In each of the three methods, measurements were recorded as variables generate d in the X and Z axes of the Cartesian scale in relation to three spec ified points along the Y axis. The results revealed that all methods w ere comparable, but the Vernier calipers differed significantly from t he other two methods in height measurements, (p < 0.001). It was also found that both the Olivetti-Inspector machine and the Vernier caliper s consistently underestimated the width, compared with Olivetti-Inspec tor machine, (p < 0.05). Stereophotogrammetry was found to be the most consistent method of measuring the configuration of preterm infant pa lates.