Abstract
Objective:
This study aimed to verify the intra-individual reproducibility of the natural head position (NHP) in adult Korean patients in the centric relation (CR) position and to prove the inter-individual variability of the Frankfurt horizontal (FH) plane and sella-nasion (SN) line compared to the true horizontal line (THL). In addition, the study aimed to investigate the correlations between linear measurements from A-point and B-point to the nasion true vertical line (NTVL) and angular measurements from A-point and B-point to the SN line.
Methods:
Two lateral cephalograms were taken of 116 subjects (23 males, 93 females) with CR wax bites in a NHP at a one-week interval.
Results:
Method errors of three variables and intraclass correlation coefficients of six parameters proved the intra-individual reproducibility of NHP (p < 0.001). The angle of the FH to the THL was not significantly different from 0° (p > 0.05), but it was clinically variable (SD 3.89°) on the inter-individual level. Conversely, the angle of the SN line to the THL was significantly different from 7° (p < 0.05). Very low correlation was found between the linear measurements and angular measurements of A-point and B-point (p < 0.01).
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![]() | Fig 1.Registration of the centric relation wax bite. A, Guiding the mandible using the tripoding method; B, centric relation wax bite (anterior and posterior portion). |
![]() | Fig 2.Registration in the natural head position and lateral cephalogram. A, Subjects looked into their eyes in the mirror (orthoposition); B, standing position with arms and chin relaxed. |
![]() | Fig 4.Reference planes used in this study. 1, Nasion true vertical line (NTVL) passing through the nasion point perpendicular to the floor; 2, E-line, tip of nose-soft tissue pogonion; 3, cervical vertebrae tangent-plane the posterior tangent to the odontoid process through cv4ip; 4, odontoid process tangent plane, the posterior tangent to the odontoid process through cv2ip; 5, palatal plane, ANS-PNS; 6, true horizontal line passing through nasion point perpendicular to the NTVL; 7, sella-nasion plane; 8, Frankfurt horizontal plane, porion-orbitale. |
![]() | Fig 5.Angular measurements. A, 1, Nasion true vertical line (NTVL) to palatal plane; 2, NTVL to E-Line; 3, NTVL to cervical vertebrae tangent; 4, NTVL to sella-nasion (SN); 5, true horizontal line (THL) to odontoid process tangent (OPT); 6, SN to OPT. B, 1, THL to Frankfurt horizontal plane; 2, THL to SN. |
![]() | Fig 6.Linear measurements. A, 1, Nasion true vertical line (NTVL to A-point); 2, NTVL to B-point. B, 1, Sella nasion A-point (SNA) angle; 2, sella nasion B-point (SNB) angle. |
Table 2.
Positioning method errors (n = 116)
Variables | This study (n=116) | Huggare33 (n=33) | Solow & Tallgren19 (n=120) |
---|---|---|---|
SN/NTVL | 1.06 | 1.60 | 1.43 |
SN/OPT | 1.28 | 1.35 | 1.43 |
OPT/THL | 0.77 | 2.10 | 1.95 |
Table 3.
Reproducibility of natural head position (NHP by intraclass correlation coefficients (n = 116)
Variables | Average of raters(α) | p-value |
---|---|---|
NTVL/E-line | 0.9925 | <0.001 |
NTVL/palatalplane | 0.6102 | <0.001 |
NTVL/CVT | 0.9883 | <0.001 |
NTVL/SN | 0.9703 | <0.001 |
SN/OPT | 0.9815 | <0.001 |
NTVL/OPT | 0.9917 | <0.001 |
Table 4.
Differences in Frankfurt horizontal line (FHL) to true horizontal line (THL) and SN to true horizontal line compared to norms (n = 116)
Variables | N | Mean | SD | Min | Max | p-value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
THL/FH | 116 | −0.16 | 3.89 | −12.43 | 7.65 | <0.05 |
THL/SN | 116 | 9.73 | 4.60 | −2.11 | 17.50 | <0.05 |
Table 5.
Correlations between linear measurements of A-point to nasion true vertical line (NTVL) and sella-naison (SN)-A angles, and linear measurements of B-point to NTVL and SN-B angles using Pearson correlation coefficients (n = 116)
NTVLA | NTVLB | NTVLA1 | NTVLB1 | NTVLA2 | NTVLB2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNA | 0.094 | |||||
SNB | 0.314∗ | |||||
SNA1 | 0.328∗ | |||||
SNB1 | 0.314∗ | |||||
SNA2 | 0.309∗ | |||||
SNB2 | 0.287∗ |