Comparative Study of Conventional and Digital Radiography in Diagnosis of Periapical Lesions in Dry Human Mandible

One of the most important roles of dental radiographies is periapical lesion diagnosis. Conventionl radiographs have some problems such as need of high dose exposure or special equipments. Digital radiography as a new method in dentistry has made a great revolution. Decrease in exposure dose, no need for dark room and other options that can facilitate the diagnosis are among their advantages. The aim of this study was to compare the digital and conventional radiography in diagnosis of preapical lesions in dry human mandible. In this experimental study, the skull mounted teeth with 50 constructed preapical lesions were evaluated using conventional and digital radiography. The radiographs of the artificial lesions at the apexes were investigated by two expert radiologists. In this study the zooming as well as contrast and density changes of digital radiographs in Cygnus media software, were recorded. Data were analyzed using chi square test.According to the findings, the mean of correct diagnosis of periapical lesions were: 66% for density-contrast change with digital method, 40% for digital zooming, and 39% for conventional method. According to chi square test there was a significant difference between the first method (contrast- density change) with the other two methods (p<0.001).In this evaluation, among three different radiographic methods used, digital radiography with the ability of changing density and contrast was superior and more accurate than conventional radiography and zooming methods in diagnosis of the lesion’s size.