The impact of digital filters on the diagnosis of simulated root resorptions in digital radiographic systems.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the influence of digital filters of intraoral radiographic systems on the diagnosis of simulated internal and external root resorptions and image quality.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Internal root resorption (IRR) and external root resorption (ERR) were simulated in 34 teeth. For image acquisition, two radiographic systems were used: Digora Toto and VistaScan. All filters available in these systems were applied. Three observers scored the detection of root resorptions in a 5-point scale. The noise and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. The area under ROC curve, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were obtained. One-way ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc tests compared the diagnostic values, noise, and CNR between the filters (α = 0.05).

RESULTS

For ERR, there were no significant differences in diagnostic values between the filters tested for both systems. For IRR, Original and Noise Reduction filters presented higher sensitivity than the Sharpen2 filter for images from Digora Toto, with no differences between the other groups. For VistaScan, there were no significant differences of diagnostic values between the groups studied. Noise values differed among the filters of both systems. The CNR of the filters differed only for the bone region for Digora Toto, while for VistaScan, both tooth and bone regions differed.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite promoting changes in pixel intensities and affecting the noise level of the radiographic images, the digital filters of Digora Toto and VistaScan systems do not affect the diagnosis of internal or external root resorptions.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Digital filters are common tools in digital radiographic systems and may be used by the professional without impairment in root resorptions diagnosis.