No abstract

Oral diseases and associated microbes are a risk factor for systemic diseases and can change the courses of these diseases. To date, epidemiological data on microbial oral infections are scarce, and longitudinal reports are lacking.

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Aim To compare digital images of conventional radiographs with the original radiographs for perceived clarity of periapical lesions and the quality of root canal treatment. Materials and Methods One hundred and four intraoral periapical radiographs of patients with endodontically treated teeth were randomly selected. The radiographs were digitized using an MD300 USB X-ray Reader. The digital images were transferred to an HP laptop. Three evaluators compared each conventional radiograph with the matching digital image. The images were ranked for clarity and assessed for diagnostic quality; data were analyzed using the Reliability Calculation “ReCal.” Results. Both the digital images and conventional films had comparable clarity and diagnostic quality. Results indicated a moderate agreement between the evaluators. Conclusions Conventional radiographs digitized using an MD300 USB X-ray Reader have similar clarity and diagnostic quality in comparison to the original radiographs.