Comparative study of a wireless digital system and 2 PSP digital systems on proximal caries detection and pixel...

This study compared the radiographic image quality of 2 photostimulable phosphor (PSP) plate systems with a radiographic system against a complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) system. Using the 3 digital systems, 160 approximal surfaces were radiographed under standardized conditions. Using a 5-point scale, 6 observers scored the resulting images for the presence of caries. The presence of caries was validated histologically, and the image receptors were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The digital systems were used to take radiographs of an aluminum step wedge for objective analysis with pixel density measurements. The mean pixel values were analyzed statistically using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn multiple comparison test (P < 0.01). The performance of the new CMOS system was comparable to the PSP plate systems and radiographic film.