A Study on the Clinical Utility of a Scale for Examination in Residual Ridge

Purpose: To establish a simple and objective method of assessing the residual ridge height and shape of edentulous patients, we investigated the clinical utility of a newly developed "examination scale" based on our clinical research. Methods: The right and left first molar sections of 30 subjects (10 males, 20 females, average age: 79) with edentulous maxillae and mandibles were evaluated. Subjective evaluation and evaluation using an examination scale were carried out by three dentists. Objective evaluation was performed with digital vernier calipers on study models. The examination scale was designed with four grades (U, middle, V, flat) for residual ridge shape and three grades (high, middle, low) for residual ridge height. Agreement among the subjective evaluation, objective evaluation, and examination scale were examined with kappa statistics. Results: Marked discrepancies were noted between the subjective evaluation and the objective evaluation regardless of the individual. Agreement between the subjective evaluation and the objective evaluation showed low kappa values (height: maxillas: 0.35, mandibles: 0.53, shape: maxillas: 0.44, mandibles: 0.43). However, relatively low discrepancies were noted between the examination scale and the objective evaluation, and the correlation between the examination scale and the objective evaluation was high with high kappa values (height: maxillas: 0.81, mandibles: 0.66, shape: maxillas: 0.88, mandibles: 0.72). Conclusion: The results of using our newly developed examination scale for the residual ridge height and shape of edentulous patients correlated significantly with an objective evaluation, indicating the high clinical utility of this scale.