Objective

To assess the degree of inter-examiner concordance in the interpretation of periodontal findings in panoramic X-rays in last year students of the School of Dentistry at the University of Colombia.

Material and methods

A descriptive inter-observer concordance-consistency study was conducted for interpretation of periodontal findings in panoramic X-rays among last year students of the School of Dentistry of the University of Colombia and compared results to thos obtained by a periodontics specialist. Concordance evaluation was achieved by means of a kappa coefficient using SPSS Statistics 2.0 program.

Results

80 last year students (undergraduate seniors) were evaluated each one assessed two panoramic X-rays, for a total of 160 observations. General concordance established a minimum kappa value of 0.011, and maximum value of 0.720.

Conclusions

Concordance among observing students and the gold standard was poor. This indicated that students did not apply acquired knowledge during their undergraduate dental studies, and provided thus a misleading impression on the circumstances of the periodontium.