in vitro comparative study of the working length determination with radiovisiography and conventional radiography in dilacerated canals

Introduction: the aim of this study was to compare digital and conventional radiography in determining the working length of dilacerated canals. methods: thirty nine human extracted single-rooted teeth with root curvature more than 35 degrees were included in this study. after access preparation, a file was inserted into the canal and advanced until the file tip was visualized at the foramen. with measurement of the file length using a millimeter ruler, true canal length was determined for each canal. then, teeth were mounted in acrylic blocks and canal length was estimated by using on-screen digital radiography with both 3- and 6-clicks measurement and from conventional radiography by conforming a preserved file on the image of the root canal. results: there were no significant differences in measurement accuracy between the true canal length and conventional radiographic length, but there were significant difference between both digital radiographic techniques with true canal length. there was no significant correlation between root curvature and canal length estimation error of studied methods. conclusion: in dilacerated canals, the accuracy of determination of working length by using conventional radiography is higher than digital radiography.