CLINICAL EVALUATION OF ELECTRONIC AND MANUAL CONSTANT FORCE PROBES

The objective of this study was to compare the measurements of an electronic controlled-force probe (FP) to that of a manual controlled-force probe (SP) and a conventional probe (CP). Twelve subjects were recruited. A quadrant with no missing teeth (excluding third molars) was selected. Probing depth was measured at 6 sites per tooth (mesiobuccal, buccal, distobuccal, mesiolingual, lingual, and distolingual) by two examiners (AK and KC) each using the three probes in the following sequence: FP, SP, and CP. The same measurements were repeated a week later by both examiners. The mean difference of measurements between CP and FP was 0.375 ± 0.858 mm (P < 0.05), with 52.7% of the measurements within 0.5 mm and 80% within 1.0 mm. Correlation between measurements was high (0.7208) and significant (P < 0.001). The mean difference between SP and FP was 0.450 ± 0.863 mm (P < 0.05), with 49.1% of the measurements within 0.5 mm and 76.9% within 1.0 mm. Correlation between measurements was high (0.7354) and significa...