title: Diagnostic accuracy of digitized conventional radiographs by camera and scanner in detection of proximal caries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Digital radiographs have some advantages over conventional ones. Application of digital recep-tors is not routine yet. Therefore, there is a need for digitizing conventional radiographs. The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of digitized conventional radiographs by scanner and camera in detection of proximal car-ies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and sixteen surfaces of 158 extracted posterior teeth were radiographed. The radiographs were digitized using a digital camera and a scanner. Five observers scored the images for the presence and depth of caries. Histopathologic sections were the gold standard. Kappa agreement coefficient was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Kappa agreement coefficients between the camera and the scanner and also between each one with the gold stan-dard in detecting the depth of caries were 0.504, 0.557 and 0.454, respectively. In detection of caries, the indexes were 0.571, 0.553 and 0.527, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diagnostic accuracy of camera images in caries detection was more than that of scanned images, but there was also a moderate consistency between them. The consistency of detecting the presence of caries was more than that of detecting their depths. It seems that both digital cameras and scanners can be used interchangeably.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Solmaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valizadeh
authors.forename: Mohammad Amin
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tavakoli
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zarabian
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Esmaeili