Diagnosis of Dental Cracks by Digital Bitewing Imaging: A Laboratory Study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of using digital bitewing imaging technique for the diagnosis of dental cracks. Materials and Methods: In this study, 60 specimens of extracted human teeth were collected. Teeth were divided into two equal groups; control group and study group.  Cracks were artificially created on the study group by repeated thermal cycling method using boiled water and liquid nitrogen. Then teeth were mixed in a random manner and then placed in a waxed arch block to simulate the human geometrical pattern in imaging. The roots of the teeth were embedded from 2 mm below the cemento-enamel junction to the root apex. Teeth cracks were examined by digital bitewing radiography and three observers evaluated the cracks independently and recorded the results respectively. Results: The validity of digital bitewing technique values showed poor level of accuracy on crack detection by 65.0 %. Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, digital bitewing images showed poor level of accuracy so, would be considered of limited value in detecting tooth cracks.