The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of 3 different automatic landmark identification programs on lateral
cephalgrams and the clinical acceptability in pediatric dentistry.
Sixty digital cephalometric radiographs of 7 to 12 years old healthy children were randomly selected. Fourteen land marks were chosen for assessment and the mean of 3 measurements of each landmark by a single examiner was defined
as the baseline landmarks. The mean difference between an automatically identified landmark and the baseline landmark
was measured for each landmark on each image.
The total mean difference of 3 automatic programs compared to the baseline landmarks were 2.53 ± 1.63 mm. Errors
among 3 programs were not significantly different for 12 of 14 landmarks except Orbitale and Gonion. The automatic
landmark identification programs showed significant higher mean detection errors than the manual method. The pro grams couldn’t be used as the 1st tool to replace human examiners. But considering short consuming time, these results
indicate that all 3 programs have sufficient validity to be used in pediatric dental clinic