Interexaminer reliability of the assessment of clinical furcation parameters as related to different probes

The aim of this study was to investigate the interexaminer reliability of t he assessment of clinical furcation diagnosis. Horizontal attachment level (PAL-H) measurements were obtained by 3 examiners in 6 molars in each of 10 patients with advanced periodontitis. In each patient, 3 molars were exami ned using a 3 mm incrementally marked Nabers probe, and 3 molars were exami ned using a pressure-calibrated plastic probe (TPS). Assignment of the prob e was random, and the schedule of examiners was changed for each patient. C linical assessments were validated by intrasurgical measurements in 6 patie nts. sixty molars with 152 furcations were investigated, Multifactorial ana lysis of variance revealed that PAL-H measurements were significantly influ enced by examiner and furcation location, whereas type of probe and schedul e of examination had no influence. The overall intraclass correlation coeff icient was r = 0.695. The difference between clinical and intrasurgical PAL -H assessment was influenced by examiner and location but not by type of pr obe. Approximately 70% of the total variance of PAL-H measurements was due to the variance of true values, whereas 30% of the variance may be explaine d by interexaminer and intraexaminer variance. The pressure-calibrated TPS probe failed to increase the interexaminer reliability of PAL-H measurement s when compared to a Nabers probe.