Cleveland Family Study

16.6.2 Dental Facial Planner

Once all landmarks are discovered, the ceph is ready to be digitized. Computers in the back of Dr. Suchi Nelson’s office are dedicated to this purpose. Dental Facial Planner (DFP) is a software package developed to assist Orthodontists in treatment planning and has been customized for analysis of cephs for OSAS. The procedures for digitizing an x-ray follow:

1. Start the computer, at the C:> prompt type “CD.. DFP”
2. Press Enter.
3. At the DFP:> prompt, type “Kostas”
4. Press Enter.
5. This will take you to the main DFP menu, select or create an appropriate parent directory and select New Option.
6. Type in ceph number, participant’s name, DOB and all other pertinent information. Enlargement information can be gleaned from the Bolton-Brush table for x-ray enlargement. Simply find the appropriate ML distance on the chart and enter that data.
7. At the analysis prompt, choose Sleep Apnea Analysis.
8. Place the acetate with the markings on the digitizing tablet and tape in place to avoid movement when locating landmarks.
9. The program will prompt you to find each landmark, one by one. Simply place the digitizer over the landmark (landmark in crosshairs) and press 1 on the mouse.
10. If a mistake is made, place mouse on Redigt Last Point box at the top of the tablet and press 1.
11. When finished, the program will prompt you to evoke exit by clicking on the Exit box in the upper right corner of the tablet.
12. When finished with all x-rays, the data must be exported to disk. Click on the appropriate parent directory and highlight the name.
13. Click on the printer icon and choose Export option.
14. The program will prompt you to name the file, and will prompt you for type of file to export. Choose Tabs. You will see the C numbers flash by as the file is exported.
15. Click on the DOS icon
16. Type “Edit” at the DFP:> prompt.
17. Press Esc to bypass message as DOS editor opens.
18. Choose file option.
19. Choose open file option.
20. The program will query type of file to open with the . prompt. Type “*.prn”
21. Press Enter.
22. Your file should appear on the list, double clicking on the file name will open it.
23. Insert disk in A drive.
24. Once satisfied that the file is intact choose file option, and select Save As.
25. Type “A:(filename).prn”
26. Press Enter.
27. Data will be saved to disk, choose exit to return to DOS prompt.
28. Open disk file in Excel.
29. Open family TEMPLET FINAL file in n:\common\Ceph Data Files.
30. Highlight variable names and copy
31. Insert a row at the top of the disk file and paste in variable names. The variables are always exported in the same order. Spaces will need to be inserted for variables manually entered from the chart.
32. Data enter additional variables from chart (date, rectype, personi, familyi and tarea.)
33. Save data file in n:\common\Ceph Data Files\NEW with naming protocol outlined below