Efficacy Studies

In order for a new technology to be embraced by the scientific oral health community, it must be shown that using it results in at least the same diagnostic outcome as what is currently being used. The scientific oral health community is actively engaged in research to answer questions related to new technologies, like digital radiography. A review of the literature revealed an abundance of studies demonstrating that digital radiography performs as well as conventional film in the diagnosing of caries and periodontal disease. In addition, many scientific studies have looked at more advanced imaging techniques for specific tasks, such as file length measurement, detection of bone loss around dental implant sites, the use of algorithms to optimize contrast and density, etc. In most cases, the results overwhelmingly have demonstrated that digital radiography could be substituted for film without any loss in diagnostic information.7-21