A critical evaluation of the pitchfork analysis

Männchen, Roland

Department of Orthodontics and Children's Dentistry, Centre for Dental and Oral Medicine, University of Zürich, Switzerland

Address of correspondence Dr Roland Männchen, Klinik für KO/KZM, Plattenstrasse 11, CH-8028 Zürich, Switzerland

European Journal of Orthodontics 23(1):p 1-14, February 2001.

SUMMARY

The pitchfork analysis has gained increasing acceptance among researchers and clinicians to evaluate the effects of orthodontic treatment that can be measured on lateral cephalometric radiographs. It is primarily used in Class II cases to distinguish between the skeletal and dental effects of such treatments. The aim of this study was to conduct an objective evaluation of the pitchfork analysis by comparing cephalometric data obtained by that method with those using the more conventional and established method of Bjöork.

The pitchfork analysis consistently provided an overestimation of the skeletal effects and an under-estimation of the dental changes. These results indicate that the pitchfork analysis is not sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between the skeletal and dental effects of orthodontic treatment.