Detection accuracy of in vitro approximal caries by cone beam computed tomography images

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of approximal carious lesions among five CBCT systems and to assess the effect of detector types employed by different CBCT systems on the accuracy of approximal caries diagnosis.

Thirty-nine extracted non-cavitated human permanent teeth were employed in the study. Seven observers evaluated 78 approximal surfaces of the teeth with respect to caries by the images from the following five CBCT systems: (1) NewTom 9000; (2) Accuitomo 3DX; (3) Kodak 9000 3D; (4) ProMax 3D; and (5) DCT PRO, respectively. The lesions were validated by histological examination. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (A(z)) was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy.

Microscopy of approximal surfaces found 47.4% sound, 39.8% enamel and 12.8% dentin lesions. The differences of A(z) values among the five CBCT systems were not statistically significant (p=0.348). No significant difference was found between the two detector types of CBCT systems (p=0.47).

The five CBCT systems employed in the study showed no significant difference in the in vitro approximal caries detection. Neither the detector nor the FOV employed by the CBCT systems has an impact on the detection accuracy of approximal caries.