Conventional and digital radiographic assessment of tooth enamel de-/remineralization processes: An experimental study

Autor: Patrícia Leite-Ribeiro, Thais Feitosa Leitão de Oliveira, Paula Mathias, Elisângela de Jesus Campo, Viviane Almeida Sarmento
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: Indian Journal of Dental Research, Vol 25, Iss 2, Pp 214-219 (2014)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0970-9290
1998-3603
DOI: 10.4103/0970-9290.135926
Popis: Objective: This study aimed to compare digital techniques for evaluating dental enamel de-/remineralization. Materials and Methods: Sixty extracted molars were subjected to a process of de- and remineralization. Radiographs were taken before and after each stage. These radiographs were evaluated by the conventional method and were then scanned and analyzed either with or without the use of image enhancement. Moreover, the gray levels (GLs) of the affected areas were measured. Results: All methods exhibited low sensitivity and identical levels of specificity (99.4%). Analysis of the grayscale levels found statistically significant differences between the initial radiographs (P < 0.05). The mean GL of the carious group was significantly lower than that of the remineralized group. The GL did not differ significantly between the initial and final radiographs of the remineralized group, although the mean of the first group was lower than that of the second, which demonstrated that the remineralization process restored the normal density of the dental enamel. Conclusion: Measurement of the mean GL was sufficiently sensitive to detect small alterations in the surface of the enamel.
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