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Effect of training and probing force on the reproducibility of pocket depth measurements.

The purpose of the present investigation was to study the effect of standardization of probing spot and direction of probe insertion into the pocket in conjunction with a probing force of 0.75 N on the reproducibility of pocket depth measurements. Nine patients were selected on the basis of about 50 % loss of alveolar bone support. After initial treatment 137 interproximal pockets were measured twice by three different examiners, successively by means of a pressure probe with a constant probing force of 0.75 N and a Merritt-B probe. During the next two weeks the examiners were trained by means of a video program to use the probe on a standardized spot and in a standardized direction of insertion into the pocket. After this training, all measurements were repeated in the same order of investigation. During the first as well as the second examination, the first examiner also scored bleeding on probing using the pressure probe. Analyses of variance were carried out in order to test the reproducibility of pocket depth measurements both before and after training. Possible influences of the depth of the pocket and the bleeding tendency of a pocket were included in the analyses. The results indicated that only a training program together with a standardized probing force leads to reproducible interproxima! pocket depth measurements. However, further analyses revealed that only non-bleeding pockets gave reproducible measurements whereas bleeding pockets did not. If, in addition, pocket depth was included in the analyses, it was found that this factor has no influence on the reproducibility. It was concluded that bleeding of a pocket seems to be more important for the reproducibility of pocket depth measurements than the factor pocket depth.