Svenson B, Eriksson T, Kronström M, Palmqvist S
Department of Oral Radiology, Postgraduate Dental Education Center Orebro, Sweden.
Swed Dent J. 1995;19(1-2):47-54.
The image quality of intraoral radiographs used by general public health dentists in prosthodontic treatment planning was evaluated on 763 radiographs from 72 consecutive cases. It was found that 349 (45.7%) radiographs were without any type error and that 414 radiographs had a total of 577 errors. The most common errors were projection and film density errors. The number of submitted radiographs ranged from 2 to 22. Three prosthodontists evaluated if the radiographs gave "satisfactory" or "not satisfactory" information for approval or not of the proposed treatment. Of the 72 cases did 34 (47%) not meet the criteria for acceptance. For the cases where the prosthodontists found the radiographic documentation "satisfactory", the mean number of periapical radiographs was 10.8, while for cases found "not satisfactory" the mean number was 7.1. This difference was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). It was shown that nearly every seventh tooth planned to be used as an abutment was radiographically not properly documented. The poor radiographic quality found in this study and in other similar studies should be taken into serious consideration, especially as prosthodontic treatment accounts for a substantial part of the total costs for dental insurance in Sweden.
