Abstract

GALCERA CIVERA, Verónica; ALMERICH SILLA, José M.; MONTIEL COMPANY, José M.  and  FORNER NAVARRO, Leopoldo. Clinical and radiographic diagnosis of approximal and occlusal dental caries in a low risk population. Med. oral patol. oral cir.bucal (Internet) [online]. 2007, vol.12, n.3, pp.252-257. ISSN 1698-6946.

Objective: Determine the agreement between visual detection, conventional radiology and digital radiology methods in the diagnosis of interproximal and occlusal caries in the posterior teeth of a group of patients with low caries prevalence. Materials and Methods: Visual, conventional radiographic and digital radiographic (Digora^®, Soredex, Sweden) caries diagnosis was performed in a group of patients (n=30) of both sexes with ages ranging from 15 to 65 years (x = 34 years). Agreement was estimated by the linear weighted kappa index. Results: Kappa = 0.17 was obtained between the visual examination and the conventional radiographic examination and Kappa = 0.16 between the visual examination and the radiovisiography. Between conventional and digital radiography the Kappa indexes were 0.81 overall, 0.87 in the dentine and 0.66 in the enamel. Compared to visual examination, 3.23 times more caries lesions were diagnosed with digital radiology and 2.88 times more with conventional radiography. 94% of the new caries detected were interproximal. Conclusions: The use of radiographic techniques, whether conventional or digital, increases the number of caries diagnosed in comparison with conventional clinical examination. The two radiographic techniques show high agreement in lesion diagnosis.

Keywords : Dental caries diagnosis; bite-wing radiography; digital radiology; Digora^®.

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