In vivo reproducibility study of ultrasound for monitoring enamel thickness

Abstract

Objective: This work assesses ultrasound's reproducibility for monitoring enamel thickness in vivo.

Study design: This clinical reproducibility study recruited 30 healthy consenting volunteers. The enamel thickness on an intact maxillary central incisor was evaluated at 3 sites on 3 separate visits, 1 week apart. Bland-Altman statistical test and intraclass coefficients (ICC) were used to assess reproducibility.

Results: Reproducibility results were highest for the cervical site (bias [mm] = -0.01; 95% limits of agreement = -0.05, 0.04), followed by midbuccal (bias = 0.01; 95% limits of agreement = -0.04, 0.06) and incisal site (bias = 0; 95% limits of agreement = -0.25, 0.25). ICC was highest for the cervical site (0.96) followed by midbuccal (0.71).

Conclusions: Ultrasound is a sufficiently reproducible and reliable technique for monitoring change in enamel thickness, as in erosive tooth surface loss (TSL). The preferred sites for ultrasonographic measurements are cervical and midbuccal.