Contribution of pretreatment radiographs to orthodontists' decision making.

A study was conducted to determine the amount of diagnostic and treatment planning information gained by orthodontists when pretreatment radiographs are added to a set of orthodontic records. Thirty-nine orthodontists evaluated six test cases and formulated a diagnosis and treatment plan. Information was collected about the participants' certainty with their diagnoses and treatment plans, the impact of the radiographs, the number and type of radiographs that were selected, and the difficulty of each case. Results showed that orthodontists were approximately 75% confident of their diagnosis before reviewing any radiograph. There were 741 radiographs ordered, of which 192 produced changes to the diagnostic process. The lateral cephalometric radiograph was the most productive. Panoramic and full-mouth series were productive but provided largely duplicative information.