Acta Odontol Scand. 2018 Jul;76(5):346-350. doi: 10.1080/00016357.2018.1460490. Epub 2018 Apr 12.
Abstract
AIM:
Early
clinical and radiological diagnosis of dental caries is one of the
fundamental objectives of clinical dentistry because of the high
frequency of the disease and severe complications if caries remains
untreated, especially among the elderly and patients with
immunodeficiency. Dental panoramic tomography (DPT) is a common
radiographic method for evaluating dentition when indicated, especially
in an adult population. The aim of this study was to assess the
reproducibility of diagnosis between specialists in oral radiology and
general dentists with regards to caries lesions based on DPTs of adults.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
One-hundred
DPTs taken from adult patients (average age 35) and then analyzed and
reported on by 42 general dentists were then analyzed independently by
two specialists in oral radiology with respect to caries lesions in the
premolar and molar areas using radiographic criteria established for
caries diagnosis. The general dentists versus oral radiologists were not
calibrated before. Level of agreement between specialists and general
dentists was measured using Cohen's kappa.
RESULTS:
Comparison
between observations of general dentists and specialists in oral
radiology showed that 61% of the caries lesions on proximal surfaces of
premolars and molars observed by specialists went unobserved by general
dentists. Cohen's kappa value for specialists was 0.85 (p < .001) and
for each specialist and general dentists 0.48 (p < .001) and 0.44
(p < .001).
CONCLUSIONS:
The reproducibility between specialists in oral radiology and general dentists for detecting caries in DPTs was low.
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