Evaluation of the agreement by examiners according to classifications of third molars

OBJECTIVES This study recorded and evaluated the intra- and inter-group agreement degree by different examiners for the classification of lower third molars according to both the Winter's and Pell & Gregory's systems. STUDY DESIGN An observational and cross-sectional study was realized with forty lower third molars analyzed from twenty digital panoramic radiographs. Four examiner groups (undergraduates, maxillofacial surgeons, oral radiologists and clinical dentists) from Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil, classified them in relation to angulation, class and position. The variance test (ANOVA) was applied in the examiner findings with significance level of p<0.05 and confidence intervals of 95%. RESULTS Intra- and inter-group agreement was observed in Winter's classification system among all examiners. Pell & Gregory's classification system showed an average intra-group agreement and a statistical significant difference to position variable in inter-group analysis with greater disagreement to the clinical dentists group (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS High reproducibility was associated to Winter's classification, whereas the system proposed by Pell & Gregory did not demonstrate appropriate levels of reliability.