Diagnostic utility of thermal printed panographs compared with corresponding computer monitor images

Digital panoramic radiographs may be viewed with computer monitors or archived as thermal or laser prints. To compare the available diagnostic information from thermal print images to that of corresponding computer monitor images, four calibrated evaluators performed a qualitative analysis of 13 specified anatomic features in 60 pairs of digital panoramic images presented in random order on a computer monitor and as thermal printed images. Each anatomic site was rated both for subjective diagnostic quality and diagnostic utility using a nominal scale. Computer monitor images more often were subjectively judged to have better quality. Within the parameters of this study, both formats had acceptable diagnostic utility for the majority of the anatomic features evaluated.