Agreement Evaluation of a Newly Proposed System for Malocclusion Classification

Abstract

The current malocclusion classification systems, routinely used in orthodontic practice, still yield different disagreement values among examiners who evaluate one and the same clinical case. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the agreement effectiveness of a Newly Proposed System for malocclusion classification-in the anteroposterior orientation-, conceived by the present authors.Thirty-four examiners evaluated 15 malocclusion cases using Angle's, Katz's and the Newly Proposed System classifications to determine which system shows the highest degree of agreement and accuracy when results were communicated among examiners. A comparison of the classifications attributed to each individual case and the mean figures found for the total data in each classification showed that the methods advanced by the Newly Proposed System yielded a higher degree of agreement (73.33%) than Angle's (26.66%) and Katz's (26.66%). The Newly Proposed System proved to be an outstanding malocclusion classification system with a high degree of agreement among examiners. On the other hand, however, further studies involving a wider sample of malocclusions and a greater number of examiners are strongly recommended if more conclusive results are to be achieved.