- Chung How Kau: Wales College of Medicine, Biology, Health and Life Sciences, Dental Health and Biological Sciences, Wales, UK. kauc@cardiff.ac.uk
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of measuring three-dimensional soft tissue morphology using a laser imaging system.
DESIGN: Prospective clinical trial.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight adult subjects, mean age 24.5 years, were analyzed for soft tissue changes at baseline (T1) and at 1 week (T2) using two commercially available Minolta Vivid 900 (Osaka, Japan) laser scanning devices assembled as a stereopair. Left and right images were merged to form the whole face, and these images were superimposed to assess the errors between the two faces at T1 and at T2.
RESULTS: The results showed that the mean shell deviations for left and right scans at T1 were 0.32 +/- 0.08 mm and 0.30 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. The mean shell deviations for left and right scans at T2 were 0.34 +/- 0.08 mm and 0.32 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. The mean difference of the merged composite faces superimposed at T1 and T2 was 0.37 +/- 0.07 mm and 0.35 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. Paired t-tests revealed that the mean difference of 0.02 mm was statistically insignificant (P > .05). The reproducibility error was 0.7 and 0.8 mm for females and males, respectively, when a tolerance of 90% was imposed on the aligned faces.
CONCLUSIONS: Capturing soft tissue morphology of the face, using the technique described, is clinically reproducible within 1 week of the initial records.