Objectives: To evaluate the influence of CBCT enhancement filters on the diagnosis of vertical root fractures (VRFs) in teeth with and without metal posts. Methods: The crowns of 40 uniradicular human teeth were removed and all roots were prepared. 20 teeth were randomly selected, and VRFs were induced using a universal testing machine. The i-CAT (Imaging Sciences International, Hatfield, PA) CBCT was used to scan teeth with and without intracanal metal posts using the following parameters: 0.2 voxel size, 8 3 8-cm scan size and acquisition time of 26.9 s. Images were evaluated by three observers with and without the use of the following filters: S9, smooth, smooth 3 3 3, sharpen, sharpenmild and sharpen 3 3 3. Results: Intra-and interobserver agreement ranged from poor to moderate. Images with and without CBCT filters did not show significant differences regarding the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, as well as sensitivity (p . 0.05). As for accuracy, the sharpen-mild filter was superior to the sharpen (p 5 0.03), but these filters did not differ from all others. For specificity, S9, smooth and original images were superior to sharpen (p , 0.01). Results for teeth without posts differed from those for teeth with metal posts in all cases (p , 0.05). Conclusions: The use of enhancement filters in CBCT images has no influence on the diagnosis of VRFs in teeth with metal posts, and their use is not justified.

Objectives: To evaluate four different teaching methodologies in the radiographic diagnosis of proximal carious lesions and in the students’ perception of these methodologies. Methods: 71 undergraduate dental students were subdivided into four groups according to the teaching methodologies used [traditional, hybrid, e-learning and problem-based learning (PBL)]. All methods were applied by two properly trained researchers. Initially, students completed a pre-methodology test (index test). After applying the teaching methodologies, the students were submitted to a post-methodology test containing periapical radiographs for evaluation of proximal carious lesions. Then the students answered a questionnaire to verify their perception of the different teaching methodologies. Statistical analysis was done. Results: There were no relationship between the results of pre- and post-methodologies tests, irrespective of the teaching methodology employed (p > 0.05). No differences between the teaching methodologies studied (p > 0.05) were found regarding the amount of correct answers. However, the students who participated in the active (e-learning and PBL) and hybrid teaching methodology reported a positive impact in relation to their diagnostic skills at the questionnaire. Conclusions: All the tested methodologies had a similar performance; however, the traditional methodology showed less acceptance by the students when analyzed subjectively and comparatively. The results of the present study increase comprehension about teaching methodologies for radiographic diagnosis of proximal carious lesions, and there is a potential to build on the knowledge base and provide practical support for students and educators.

Whilst delayed scanning caused changes to the density of images acquired with the systems studied, it did not seem to interfere with VRF diagnosis except when scanning was delayed for 4 h, which should therefore be avoided.

Background: During oral rehabilitation, dental implants in the posterior maxilla can penetrate the maxillary sinus. The aim was to evaluate the presence of maxillary sinus abnormalities in patients with dental implants in the posterior maxillary region using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, and CBCT scans of 199 patients (459 dental implants) were evaluated. Implants were assessed according to their relative location to the maxillary sinus floor (up to 2 mm from the maxillary sinus cortex, within 2 mm to intimate contact with the maxillary sinus cortex, apical third inside the maxillary sinus, two-thirds or more inside the maxillary sinus) and bone-fixation tissue (Alveolar ridge or Bone graft). Maxillary sinus abnormalities were classified. Kappa and Weighted Kappa and the Kruskal–Wallis test were applied. Results: A higher prevalence of mucosal thickening and non-specific opacification were observed in implants located within 2 mm to intimate contact with the cortex of the maxillary sinus floor. Of the 66 implants with apical thirds located inside the maxillary sinus, 31 (46.7%) were associated with sinus abnormalities and of all implants (n = 5) with two-thirds or more located inside the maxillary sinus, all of these were associated with sinus abnormalities. No association was observed in relation to implant bone-fixation tissue. Conclusions: This study found a significant association between dental implant placement near or within the sinus and sinus abnormalities, mainly mucosal thickening and non-specific opacification.

Purpose This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different spatial resolutions of a photostimulable phosphor plate (PSP) radiography system on the detection of proximal caries lesions. Materials and Methods Forty-five extracted human permanent teeth were radiographed using a PSP system (VistaScan Perio Plus) and scanned at the 4 resolutions (10 lp/mm, 20 lp/mm, 25 lp/mm, and 40 lp/mm) available in the system. Three independent examiners scored the images for the presence and absence of proximal caries lesions using a 5-point scale. The presence or absence of caries was confirmed by histological sections of the examined teeth (defined as the gold standard). Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility was calculated by the weighted kappa test. One-way analysis of variance with the post hoc Tukey test was used to compare the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the classifications made with each resolution. Results For the detection of enamel lesions, the spatial resolution of 10 lp/mm was significantly superior to the other resolutions. However, the spatial resolution did not affect the detection of caries lesions in dentin (P>0.05). Conclusion Spatial resolution may influence the accuracy of the detection of incipient caries lesions in radiographs with PSP plates. Images with low spatial resolution seem to be more appropriate for this purpose.