[The evaluation of the marginal bone height on traditional and digitized panoramic radiographs]

The aim of the present study was to compare original and digitized panoramic radiographs (with a 512 X 512 digitization matrix) for the assessment of alveolar bone loss using intraoral radiographs as a reference. Intraoral radiographs of 2+, +5, and 6- and an orthopantomogram were obtained from each of 55 patients. Alveolar bone level was measured on the intraoral, the original panoramic, and the digitized panoramic radiographs using a Schei ruler as percentage of bone left from the cemento-enamel junction to the apex. Mean values between the separate observations of the two authors were used. A statistically significant reduction in bone level was observed when assessed by the panoramic methods compared to the intraoral radiographs (P less than 0.01 for all tooth groups). Similarly a significant reduction was observed in the digitized panoramic radiographs compared to the originals (P less than 0.05) except for the molar region. The results indicate that the 512 X 512 spatial resolution is not sufficient for the digitization of extraoral radiographs when fine-detail diagnostics are needed. It is suggested that extraoral radiographs are digitized in segments when working with this matrix.