The influence of display modalities on proximal caries detection and treatment decision

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of digital radiographic display on caries detection and choice of treatment among undergraduate students. Forty images of extracted human teeth were acquired using a PSP digital system. The proximal surfaces were evaluated for the presence of proximal caries and choice of treatment by 36 undergraduate students, divided into three groups according to the semester they were taking. The images were evaluated in two forms of image display: laptop, and printed on acetate viewed on a lightbox. The accuracy of the different forms of image display on caries detection was evaluated by means of ROC curve analysis and its effect by mixed linear regression. Residue analysis was used to verify the adequacy of the treatment of choice for the chosen diagnosis. There was no significant effect either for the display modalities (p=0.058) or for the different undergraduate student groups (p=0.991). The Az was 0.539 for printed images and 0.516 for laptop. The decisions based on treatment of choice were consistent with the scores achieved for caries detection. Accuracy of caries detection using a laptop was comparable to accuracy using printed images. Treatment decision was not affected by image display modality. The semester of the dentistry course that undergraduate students were taking did not significantly increase the accuracy of their proximal caries detection.