Geerts G A V M, Stuhlinger M E, Nel D G
Division of Prosthodontics, School for Oral Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa.
J Prosthet Dent. 2004 Jan;91(1):59-66. doi: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2003.10.016.
Measuring vertical dimension is a soft-tissue measurement. Therefore, inaccuracy may occur.
The purpose of this study is to compare the accuracy of the Willis gauge method with the caliper method.
The Willis gauge measures the distance between the septum of the nose and the chin. The caliper method measures the distance between reference points on the tip of the nose and the chin. Twenty predoctoral students applied both methods 10 times in measuring the rest vertical dimension (RVD) and the occlusal vertical dimension (OVD) of a single edentulous patient. The measurements obtained from one experienced clinician were selected as controls for the interocclusal distances (IOD) for the Willis and the caliper methods, respectively. One-sided t tests and a 1-sided nonparametric test were used to determine significant differences between the 2 methods (alpha=.05).
The variances in the RVD values for the Willis gauge method were higher than for the caliper method for most students. A Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that the accuracy of the OVD measurements for the caliper method was significantly better than for the Willis gauge method (P=.001). This was not the case for the RVD measurements (P=.073). The average IOD for the Willis method was significantly higher than the control IOD (P=.026). The average IOD for the caliper method was not significantly larger than the control (P=.1303).
This study showed that the use of the caliper method by predoctoral students was a significantly more reliable method of measuring the OVD for the patient evaluated.
测量垂直距离是一种软组织测量方法。因此，可能会出现不准确的情况。
本研究的目的是比较威利斯测量仪法与卡尺法的准确性。
威利斯测量仪测量鼻小柱与下巴之间的距离。卡尺法测量鼻尖与下巴上参考点之间的距离。20名博士前学生对一名无牙患者的剩余垂直距离（RVD）和咬合垂直距离（OVD）分别使用这两种方法进行了10次测量。分别选取一名经验丰富的临床医生测量得到的结果作为威利斯测量仪法和卡尺法的牙合间距离（IOD）对照。采用单侧t检验和单侧非参数检验来确定两种方法之间的显著差异（α = 0.05）。
对于大多数学生而言，威利斯测量仪法的RVD值方差高于卡尺法。威尔科克森符号秩检验表明，卡尺法测量OVD的准确性显著优于威利斯测量仪法（P = 0.001）。RVD测量情况并非如此（P = 0.073）。威利斯测量仪法的平均IOD显著高于对照IOD（P = 0.026）。卡尺法的平均IOD与对照相比无显著差异（P = 0.1303）。
本研究表明，对于所评估的患者，博士前学生使用卡尺法测量OVD是一种明显更可靠的方法。
