Inter-examiner and intra-examiner reliability of the measurement of marginal bone loss around oral implants.

The purpose of this study was to test whether a handheld magnifier could be used as an accurate instrument to examine the periapical radiographs and measure the marginal bone levels around dental implants system. A radiologic evaluation of marginal bone loss around 11 Astra Tech (Astra Tech AB, Mölndal, Sweden) oral implants was performed. A total of 22-recorded readings of mesial and distal bone loss were performed using a handheld magnifier with a graticule. There were 3 independent examiners who determined radiographic bone assessment. Thevalues of interclass correlation coefficient for the agreement between pairs of examiners showed a relatively high agreement (0.993 for A vs B, 0.995 for B vs C, and 0.995 for A vs C) and the same for intra-examiner reliability result (0.998 for B vs B). These results showed that a handheld magnifier could be used as a simple, reliable, and reproducible method for measuring bone loss around oral implants.