A COMPARISON OF DIGITALLY SCANNED RADIOGRAPHS WITH CONVENTIONAL FILM FOR THE DETECTION OF SMALL ENDODONTIC INSTRUMENTS

The use of computers in dentistry is becoming common as a practice too l for a diverse number of tasks, including the storage and enhancement of intra-oral radiographs, Several systems of digital radiography are available to produce a digital image including irradiation of a charg ed-couple device and scanning conventional radiographs. This study com pared various digital images of scanned periapical radiographs with th e original radiographs to determine whether the digitized images offer ed any advantage when viewing small files at the radiographic apex. Tw enty extracted permanent molar teeth were prepared by gaining straight line access to the root canals and a ISO size 06 It-file was introduc ed into one of the canals until the tip was flush with the apical fora men. Using a standardized technique, radiographs were taken of the tee th using E-speed film, The radiographs were scanned and five digital i mages: original, enhanced, negative to positive conversion, zoom and z oom of negative to positive were produced. Three evaluators compared e ach of the images with the radiograph for clarity of the endodontic fi le in relation to the radiographic apex. Results were analysed using t he Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Kappa (kappa) test was used to me asure the level of agreement between the three evaluators. The results revealed that all the digital images produced by this scanner were in ferior to the radiograph (P < 0.001) and that there was high agreement between evaluators.