RADIOGRAPHIC CONTRAST - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF 3 DENTAL-X-RAY FILMS

Objective: To investigate the radiographic contrast of three dental X- ray films (Ultra-speed, Ektaspeed and Ektaspeed Plus, Eastman-Kodak, R ochester, NY, USA). Methods: An aluminium stepwedge was radiographed f or the objective assessment and a dried human mandibular segment inclu ding the teeth for the subjective evaluation: In the objective assessm ent, contrast was evaluated from the measured optic densities and the results analysed statistically by the Kruskal-Wallis one-way Anova and Mann-Whitney U test. Subjective evaluation was performed by 12 dentis ts with a range of clinical experience and scores were assigned to fiv e dental and bony structures. Results: In the objective evaluation the re was no significant difference in contrast obtained with the Ultra-s peed and Ektaspeed Plus films: both had significantly better contrast than Ektaspeed film. The subjective assessment revealed that the major ity of the dentists preferred either Ultra-speed or Ektaspeed Plus fil ms for contrast. Conclusion: Radiographic contrast of Ektaspeed Plus d id not differ significantly from Ultra-speed and both were superior to Ektaspeed film.