Imaging Sci Dent.  2012 Sep;42(3):129-137. 10.5624/isd.2012.42.3.129.

Assessment of endodontically treated teeth by using different radiographic methods: an ex vivo comparison between CBCT and other radiographic techniques

• Demiralp K
• Kamburoglu K
• Gungor K
• Yuksel S
• Demiralp G
• Ucok O

• KMID: 2167430
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5624/isd.2012.42.3.129

Abstract

PURPOSE
To compare different radiographic methods for assessing endodontically treated teeth.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Root canal treatments were applied in 120 extracted mandibular teeth, which were divided into four groups: (1) ideal root canal treatment (60 teeth), (2) insufficient lateral condensation (20 teeth), (3) root canals filled short of the apex (20 teeth), (4) overfilled root canal treatment (20 teeth). The teeth were imaged using intraoral film, panoramic film, digital intraoral systems (CCD and PSP), CCD obtained with portable X-ray source, digital panoramic, and CBCT images obtained at 0.3 mm3 and 0.2 mm3 voxel size. Images were evaluated separately by three observers, twice. Kappa coefficients were calculated. The percentage of correct readings obtained from each modality was calculated and compared using a t-test (p<0.05).
RESULTS
The intra-observer kappa for each observer ranged between 0.327 and 0.849. The inter-observer kappa for each observer for both readings ranged between 0.312 and 0.749. For the ideal root canal treatment group, CBCT with 0.2 mm3 voxel images revealed the best results. For insufficient lateral condensation, the best readings were found with periapical film followed by CCD and PSP. The assessment of teeth with root canals filled short of the apex showed the highest percentage of correct readings by CBCT and CCD. For the overfilled canal treatment group, PSP images and conventional periapical film radiographs had the best scores.
CONCLUSION
CBCT was found to be successful in the assessment of teeth with ideal root canal treatment and teeth with canals filled short of the apex.

Keyword

Root Canal Therapy; Radiography, Dental; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

MeSH Terms

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
Dental Pulp Cavity
Radiography, Dental
Reading
Root Canal Therapy
Tooth

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The images show the different root canal treatments obtained from intraoral techniques. A. Conventional periapical film (Kodak E Speed), B. CCD sensor (Dr. Suni), C. PSP sensor (Digora). From the left: right mandibular lateral incisor with ideal root canal treatment, right mandibular central incisor with insufficient condensation, left mandibular central incisor tooth with root canals filled short of the apex and left mandibular lateral incisor with overfilled root canal treatment.

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  Fig. 2 Conventional panoramic film (A) and digital panoramic image (B) show the same group of teeth shown in Fig. 1.

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  Fig. 3 Images obtained with CBCT unit reconstructed by 0.2mm3 voxels of the teeth shown in Figure 1. A. Ideal root canal treatment. B. Insufficient condensation. C. Root canals filled short of the apex. D. Overfilled root canal treatment.

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