Sensitivity and specifi city of a radiographic, tomographic and digital model analysis for determining transverse discrepancies**

Abstract

Introduction: Diagnosis in orthodontics must be performed in the three planes of the space to achieve coordination and harmony of the dental arches at the end of treatment. Objective: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Ricketts’ PA radiographic analysis, the Penn cephalometric analysis and the Hayes model analysis with the CAC. Material and methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative study was performed on 100 Cone-Beam CT scans, 100 posteroanterior radiographs and 100 digital models belonging to 50 patients with normal occlusion and 50 patients with skeletal transverse discrepancy. We performed the Ricketts’ PA radiographic analysis, the Penn cephalometric analyses and the Hayes model analyses with the CAC. Results: In all transversal analyses comparisons, the sensitivity, specifi city and predictive value of the positive and negative test exceeded 85%. Conclusions: The Ricketts’ PA radiographic analysis has more diagnostic specifi city; while the Penn cephalometric analysis and the Hayes model analysis with the CAC have more diagnostic sensitivity.