Film tomography compared with film and digital bitewing radiography for proximal caries detection.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of conventional tomography for proximal caries detection compared with conventional bitewing and digital intraoral radiography.


METHODS
In this study, 48 extracted human posterior permanent teeth were used. Conventional bitewing radiographs, digital intraoral radiographs and conventional tomograms were obtained of the teeth. The presence or absence of caries was scored according to a five-point scale by two oral and maxillofacial radiologists. True caries depth was determined by histological examination. The diagnostic accuracy of each radiographic system was assessed by means of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The mean of areas under the ROC curve (A(z)) was analysed by pairwise comparison of ROC curve. The interobserver agreement was evaluated using a t-test.


RESULTS
The statistical analysis of A(z) scores has shown no significant difference for three imaging modalities (P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between interobserver agreement (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
This study has demonstrated that the diagnostic accuracy of conventional tomograms is comparable to that of conventional bitewing and digital intraoral radiographs for proximal caries detection.
Peker
I
I
Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Gazi University, 06510 Emek/Ankara, Turkey. drdtilkay@gmail.com
Toraman Alkurt
M
M
Altunkaynak
B
B
D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D012372:ROC Curve; D016300:Radiography, Bitewing / Q000379:methods*; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital / Q000379:methods*; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D014070:Tooth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*