title: Detection of small lesions in alveolar bone by digital subtraction radiography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of digital subtraction radiography (DSR) system for diagnosis of small artificial alveolar bone lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two 0.2-0.9 mm3 lesions were produced in premolar and molar areas of dry human mandibles. Reference and subsequent radiographs were taken before and after lesions were made. The small lesions were detected by conventional radiography and DSR respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For 0.2-0.5 mm3 lesions, detection by both DSR and conventional methods was less than 50%. For 0.7 mm3 lesions, the detection by DSR and conventional methods was 57.5% and 38.7%, respectively (P < 0.01). For 0.9 mm3 lesions, the accuracy of the detection by DSR and conventional methods was 89.3% and 57.3% (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The detectability of small alveolar bone lesions by DSR was superior to that of the conventional method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, School of Stomatology, Beijing Medical University (BMU), P. R. China.
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D013382:Subtraction Technique