DETECTION OF PROXIMAL ENAMEL DEFECTS IN STORAGE PHOSPHOR PLATE RADIOGRAPHS SCANNED WITH DIFFERENT RESOLUTIONS

Purpose: to investigate the effect of scanning resolution of digora optime storage phosphor plate (spp) radiographs on the detection of proximal enamel defects. material and methods: standard enamel windows of fifteen extracted premolars were exposed to a demineralizing solution for 3 different durations (80,100 and 120 hours). five radiologists evaluated 120 proximal surfaces of premolars with respect to caries using digora optime spp images scanned with standard and high resolutions. the area under receiver operating characteristics (roc) curves was used for diagnostic accuracy (az). factorial anova was used for comparisons of azs. pair-wise comparisons were done using post-hoc t-test (p=0.05). kappa (κ) was used for inter-observer agreement. results : no difference was found between the azs of super or high resolution images for any of the demineralization periods used in this study (p>0.05). conclusion: for digora optime spp radiographs, an increased theoretical spatial resolution per se is not related to improved detection of proximal enamel defects.