Comparative investigation of accuracy of measurements of CEJ-toalveolar crest distance in periapical conventional and digital radiographs corrected for attenuation and visual response

The aim of the present study was to determine and compare the accuracy of measurements of CEJ-to-alveolar crest (AC) distance in periapical conventional and digital radiographs corrected for attenuation and visual response. Sixty-three interproximal bone sites adjacent to posterior teeth with different amounts of horizontal bone loss in dried human mandibles were selected in the present experimental study. The CEJ-AC distances in the mandibles were assessed and employed as gold standard. Periapical and digital radiographs (parallel technique) were exposed with the CCD sensor and E-speed films. Digital radiographs were processed with Dental Eye program to correct for attenuation and visual response. The CEJ-AC distances were assessed on conventional and corrected digital radiographs. The results of the two radiographic measurements were compared with gold standard by paired t-test. Pearson’s correlation coefficient for the two radiographic measurements was calculated with gold standard (α = 0.05). The accuracy of CEJ-AC distance measurements on conventional and digital radiographs was estimated to be 86%. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the gold standard and measurements on conventional (r = 0.90) and digital radiographs (r = 0.92) indicated strong correlation between the gold standard and the two radiographic measurements (p value > 0.001). Digital radiographs corrected for x-ray attenuation and visual response are comparable to conventional radiographs in accuracy for measurements of CEJ-AC distance.