Objective: To assess the influence of the display monitor on observer perfo
rmance.
Material and methods: Artificial enamel lesions were created in 40 extracte
d teeth at random using 1/4 and 1/2 round burs. Teeth were mounted in denta
l stone blocks to simulate a hemidentition. Approximate exposures were reco
rded at 70 kVp using a Digota (Soredex, Orion Corp, Helsinki, Finland) digi
tal imaging system, calibrated to achieve optimum density. Six dentists rat
ed each image on a five-point scale for the presence or absence of a lesion
. Radiographic images were viewed on the following monitors: (1) AlphaScan
711 (Sampo Corp.); (2) Multiscan 17 Se II(Sony Electronics Inc.); (3) DS 20
00 (Clinton Electronics Corp.) and (4) Latitude CP Laptop (Dell Computer Co
rp.). Raters were allowed to magnify and to adjust density and contrast of
each image at will. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was pe
rformed and curves were plotted for each image. Data was subjected to repea
ted measures analysis of variance and ordinal logistic regression to test f
or significance between variables and to determine odds ratios.
Results: Mean ROC curve areas ranged from 0.8728 for the Sampo monitor to 0
.8395 for the Sony. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed significa
nt differences between observers (P < 0.0001), lesion size (P < 0.0001), ex
aminer/monitor interaction (P < 0.033) and examiner/block interaction (P <
0.013). However, no significant difference was found between monitors.
Conclusion: This study suggests that observer performance is independent of
the visual characteristics of the display monitor.