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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Accuracy in Dental Medicine, A New Way to Measure Trueness and Precision
Published on: April 29, 2014
Density measurements of dentin by dual-energy radiography
Tim J Heaven1, Sharon L White, David M Gauntt
1Department of General Dental Sciences, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL 35294-0007, USA. theaven@uab.edu
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to apply the dual-energy radiographic technique to teeth and to soft tissue simulated with Lucite and report the visual and quantitative results.
Study Design:
High- and low-energy image pairs were exposed of aluminum and Lucite calibration wedges and human teeth sections. Reconstructed images of the calibration wedges and teeth sections were viewed and measured.
Results:
The aluminum reconstruction images accentuated the aluminum wedge and the teeth, whereas the Lucite reconstruction images minimized them. Correlations between the nominal direct and dual-energy measurements of the wedges and teeth thicknesses were found to be very good. The root-mean-square deviation of the dual-energy reconstructions from the measured nominal thicknesses was found to be no greater than 0.6 mm.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrate the feasibility of using dual energy as a means of selective cancellation of unwanted tissues and the measurement of posterior tooth density.
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