Accuracy of digital intra-oral radiography to detect secondary caries in anterior teeth (in-vivo) study

One of the most challenging areas in restorative dentistry is recurrent caries around/under old restorations, therefore achieving the ways for a proper diagnosis in detection of recurrent caries is very important. aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic ability of intra –oral digital radiography of recurrent caries in anterior teeth. (In-vivo) The present in-vivo study performed on 34 patients whit 80 anterior filled teeth with CL.III and CL.IV composite. Digital periapical radiographs were performed and 4 Maxillofacial Radiologists observed the images and recorded them in a 2 grade scale. The restorations were removed and clinical observation of cavity by operative dentist with the aid of caries detector was used as gold standard for recurrent caries detection. The data was analyzed with SPSS 14 software. Statistical analyzes showed a sensivity of 91%, the specificity was shown as 77%, the positive predictive value was calculated as 86%, negative predictive value as 85% and the accuracy was 86.7%. This study shows that using digital radiography is better than conventional radiography in diagnosis of recurrent caries in anterior teeth, mainly by increasing the sensitivity.