Clinical Performance of Diagnostic Methods in Third Molar Teeth with Early Occlusal Caries.

The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of clinical visual examination (ICDAS II), digital periapical radiography (PR), near infrared light transillumination (NIR-LT), and laser fluorescence (LF) to microcomputed tomography (Micro-CT) which is the reference standard for the detection of non-cavitated occlusal enamel and dentin caries in third molar teeth. Potential participants were consecutively recruited. In this prospective study, 101 third molars of 101 patients were examined; the molars had non-cavitated occlusal caries which required extraction. ICDAS II, PR, NIR-LT and LF examinations were carried out by two blinded examiners. Reference standard was determined by micro-CT imaging seven days after extraction. Accuracy rate, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and areas under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (Az) were statistically analyzed. Nonparametric variables were subjected to the Kruskal−Wallis Test. Significance level was set as p < 0.05. NIR-LT had the highest sensitivity (99.67−99.67%) and accuracy (78.22−77.23%) for the determination of occlusal enamel caries according to examiners 1 and 2, respectively. LF method had the highest sensitivity (70.83−54.17%) and accuracy (66.34−59.41%) for determining occlusal dentin caries according to examiners 1 and 2, respectively. The ROC curve (Az) value ranged between 0.524 and 0.726 for the different methods tested. Most effective methods for the diagnosis of occlusal enamel and dentin caries were determined to be NIR-LT and LF pen methods, respectively. The present prospective clinical study showed that NIR-LT and LF-Pen were a reliable modality for the detection of occlusal enamel and dentin caries without ionizing radiation.

Clinical comparison of intraoral CMOS and PSP detectors in terms of time efficiency, patient comfort, and subjective image quality.

Purpose: This study compared the effectiveness of complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) and photostimulable phosphor (PSP) plates as intraoral imaging systems in terms of time efficacy, patient comfort, and subjective image quality assessment in real clinical settings. Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight patients (25 women and 33 men) were included. Patients were referred for a full-mouth radiological examination including 1 bitewing radiograph (left and right) and 8 periapical radiographs for each side (left maxilla/mandible and right maxilla/mandible). For each patient, 1 side of the dental arch was radiographed using a CMOS detector, whereas the other side was radiographed using a PSP detector, ensuring an equal number of left and right arches imaged by each detector. Clinical application time, comfort/pain, and subjective image quality were assessed for each detector. Continuous variables were summarized as mean±standard deviation. Differences between detectors were evaluated using repeated-measures analysis of variance. P<0.05 was accepted as significant. Results: The mean total time required for all imaging procedures with the CMOS detector was significantly lower than the mean total time required for imaging procedures with PSP (P<0.05). The overall mean patient comfort scores for the CMOS and PSP detectors were 4.57 and 4.48, respectively, without a statistically significant difference (P>0.05). The performance of both observers in subjectively assessing structures was significantly higher when using CMOS images than when using PSP images for all regions (P<0.05). Conclusion: The CMOS detector was found to be superior to the PSP detector in terms of clinical time efficacy and subjective image quality.

Assessment of the Metal Artifact Reduction Tool for the Detection of Root Isthmus in Mandibular Molars with Intraradicular Posts in Cone-beam Computed Tomographic Scans.

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the performance of the metal artifact reduction (MAR) tool in cone-beam computed tomographic scans using different fields of view (FOVs) in the detection of a root isthmus in mandibular molars with intraradicular posts. METHODS: Twenty-eight teeth were scanned by micro-computed tomographic imaging (gold standard images). Thereafter, specimens were allocated into the following groups: gutta-percha (teeth without posts, n = 10), a prefabricated metal post (n = 9), and a fiberglass post (n = 9). Cone-beam computed tomographic scans were taken using 8 acquisition protocols, varying the size of the FOV (10 × 5.5 cm and 5 × 5.5 cm) and the MAR tool (disabled, low, normal, and high modes). A root isthmus was evaluated considering a 5-point scale. Data were analyzed considering a 5% significance level. RESULTS: Intra- and interexaminer agreement varied from moderate to substantial. The frequency of correct diagnosis varied significantly in all groups regardless of the image acquisition protocol selected (P < .05). In the gutta-percha group, there was no difference in the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity values between the tested protocols. In the metal and fiberglass post groups, the accuracy values were higher with the "disabled" and "low" modes of the MAR tool regardless of the FOV size. This was also observed for the sensitivity values in the metal post group (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The size of the FOV did not affect the performance of the MAR tool in the diagnosis of a root isthmus in molars with intraradicular posts. Our findings suggest that the use of the tool in the "normal" and "high" modes is contraindicated for this purpose.

In vitro assessment of periapical lesions created in sheep mandibles by using high resolution ultrasonography and cone beam computed tomography.

OBJECTIVES: Providing ultrasound images of periapical lesions may be problematic depending on the thickness of the overlying cortical bone. Clinically, it is crucial to determine the cut-off value of overlaying bone thickness in terms of interference with ultrasound imaging in conjunction with assessment of changes in periapical jaw bone lesions. Our aim was to determine the minimum amount of overlaying buccal bone thickness of artificial periapical lesions in order to be visible by ultrasound imaging and to compare width, height, depth, surface area and volume measurements of detectable periapical lesions obtained from ultrasound and CBCT images. METHODS: Periapical lesions were created in 16 molar teeth of sheep mandibles. Cavities were enlarged until the borders of lesions were visible on 14 MHz hockey probe ultrasound imaging. CBCT and ultrasound images were obtained simultaneously after drilling and enlarging each size of the cavities and replacing the teeth in their sockets. two observers separately assessed images twice within 2 weeks of interval. By using CBCT and ultrasound images, buccal bone thickness, maximum width, height, depth, surface area and volume of periapical lesions were measured. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was utilized and significance level was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: The mean buccal bone thickness ranged between 1.21 mm and 1.31 mm for both imaging techniques. For the measurement of buccal bone thickness, periapical lesion width, height, depth, surface area, and volume excellent ICC values were found in terms of intrarater (ranging between 0.907 and 1) and inter-rater (ranging between 0.864 and 1) reliability for both observers and their readings. There were no statistically significant differences for both observers and for their two readings between ultrasound and CBCT measurements of buccal bone thickness, and periapical lesion width and height (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We suggested that a buccal thickness of approximately 1.28 mm might be accepted as a cut-off value for the detection of periapical lesions with 14 MHz hockey probe ultrasound. High resolution ultrasound provided accurate information for the measurement of buccal bone thickness and lesion width and height.

In vitro comparison of high-definition US, CBCT and periapical radiography in the diagnosis of proximal and recurrent caries.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the in vitro performance of high-definition (HD) US, CBCT and periapical radiography for the visibility of proximal and recurrent caries in teeth with and without restoration. METHODS: A total of 240 molar teeth were divided into eight groups each comprised of 30 teeth. Control groups consisted of teeth without caries (Group 1-4; N = 120), whereas diseased groups consisted of teeth with proximal caries (Group 5-8; N = 120 teeth). Finally, a total of four image sets were obtained as follows: i) PSP periapical radiography, ii) CBCT 0.075 mm voxel size, iii) CBCT 0.2 mm voxel size and iv) HD US images. The image sets were viewed separately by four observers by using a 5-point confidence scale. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated. The areas under the ROC curves were compared using chi-square tests. Significance level was set at α = 0.05. RESULTS: Intraobserver agreement for both readings for the four observers ranged between 0.848 and 0.988 for CBCT (0.075 mm) images; 0.658 and 0.952 for CBCT (0.2 mm) images; 0.555 and 0.810 for periapical images; 0.427 and 0.676 for US images. Highest AUC values were found for CBCT (0.075 mm) images and lowest for US images. Statistically significant differences were found among CBCT (0.075 mm) images and US images (p < 0.001), CBCT (0.2 mm) images and US images (p < 0.001) and periapical images and US images (p < 0.001) for the detection of proximal caries. CONCLUSION: Periapical and CBCT images outperformed HD US imaging in the detection of proximal dental caries.