Digital radiography in general dental practice: a field study

Abstract

Knowledge of how to handle digital equipment in general dental practice should be improved. A calibrated monitor of good quality should be a given priority, as should proper ambient light conditions. There is a need to develop standardized quality controls for digital dental radiography.

Effect of ambient light level at the monitor surface on digital radiographic evaluation of approximal carious lesions: anin vitrostudy

“…Previous studies [1][2][3]18 noted that general practice dentists encountered many problems with digital radiography. There are more factors to consider and technical matters to address with digital radiography than with film-based radiography.…”

“…There are more factors to consider and technical matters to address with digital radiography than with film-based radiography. In one study, 3 general practice dentists reported that the digital radiographic technique was more difficult to understand than film-based radiography and that management of the radiographs involved more work after exposure for the dentists, such as image enhancement and back-up problems. …”

“…Many technical parameters are difficult to evaluate and understand. [1][2][3] Previous studies investigated digital detectors and concluded that they were neither better nor worse than analogue film. [4][5][6] One study 7 evaluated various types of monitors and found that, when specifically adjusted for the task of detecting carious lesions on radiographs, standard liquid crystal display (LCD) colour monitors are as good as more sophisticated monitors specifically designed for digital radiographic evaluation.…”

“…3,[8][9][10] According to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 11 ambient light should be , 50 lx 11 (very dim) when evaluating digital radiographs on a standard monitor. By contrast, operating room lighting in a general dental practice is normally very bright (.…”

Performance comparison between three intraoral image receptors of different technology at a variety of tube potential, tube current and exposure time settings using a stepwedge phantom

“…In the international literature many articles can be found describing digital detector systems and presenting comparisons among various systems with regard to their diagnostic performance [5][6][7][8][9]. The characteristics of the x-ray beam, especially the x-ray beam energy, can also contribute to image quality.…”