Journal of Dental Medicine

This article presents a comparative clinical study of digital imaging, as a new technology, and conventional method for X - Ray absorption in lens and thyroid.Clinical examination was performed on 50 patients with an average of 28 years among the cases who were reffered to the department of rediology, Islamic Azad universiy of IRAN in 1999.Two pocket dosimeters were used to meausre the dose rate. One was placed on the skin of thyroid region and the other on the eyes.The results revealed that the absorbed dose in RVG was significantly lower than conventional method (P<0.0001).Digital imaging, as a new technology, is in a state of rapid development.It is a likely that RVG will substute conventional radiography within the near future.

Background and Aim: Proper shaping and cleaning of the root canal system is one of the most important aspects of endodontic treatment. To estimate the canal length before instrumentation in endodontic treatment, traditionally, conventional radiographic techniques and recently Direct Digital Radiography (DDR) are applied. The application of computer technology to radiography has allowed less exposure time, image acquisition, manipulation, storage, retrieval, and transmission to remote sites in a digital format, elimination of wet processing and considerable reduction in the time lapse between image acquisition and display. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of DDR versus conventional radiography in estimating endodontic file lengths of curved canals in first mandibular molars.

Materials and Methods: In this test evaluation study, fourty extracted human first mandibular molars with root curvature were selected.Samples were divided into two groups: With root curvature less than 25 and more than 25. Samples were mounted in plaster blocks and canal lengths were estimated by using DDR and conventional radiographs. Regression analysis and correlation coefficient were used to calculate statistical differences between the groups with P<0.05 as the limit of significance.

Results: Conventional radiography was more precise in canals with less than 25 degrees curvature (P=0.160). While, DDR was more precise for canals with curvature more than 25 degrees (P=0.605). However, these differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The image quality of DDR system has improved to the point that it can now be used for estimating canal lengths, even for curved canals, with accuracy comparable to that of conventional radiography.