In vitro carious lesion detection on D-, E-, and F-speed radiographic films.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the accuracy in detection of interproximal natural carious lesions in vitro between Ultraspeed (D), Ektaspeed Plus (E), and Insight (F) radiographic films.


METHODS
Ten observers indicated on a 5-point scale their confidence in detecting an interproximal lesion in 240 surfaces (120 extracted teeth) with noncavitated carious lesions. Truth was assessed microscopically from hemisections. The areas (Az) beneath receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were pairwise compared and used for a 2-way analysis of variance.


RESULTS
Az values were significantly correlated with observers (P=.002; Eta=0.671) and film type (P=.003; Eta=0.412). E differed significantly (mean Az: 0.624) from both D (mean Az: 0.591; P=.028) and F (mean Az: 0.594; P=.037), although the 95% confidence intervals clearly overlapped.


CONCLUSIONS
The superior performance of Ektaspeed failed to prove clinical relevance.
Schulze
Ralf Kurt Willy
RK
Departmetn of Oral Surgery and Oral Radiology, Dental School, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. rschulze@mail.uni-mainz.de
Nackat
Dirk
D
D'hoedt
Bernd
B
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D015588:Observer Variation; D012372:ROC Curve; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000295:instrumentation; D014962:X-Ray Film / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data