Effect of computer assistance on observer performance of approximal caries diagnosis using intraoral digital radiography

Logicon Caries Detector (TM) (LDDC) is the only commercially available computer-assisted diagnostic system for caries diagnosis. The object of this study is to elucidate the efficacy of LDDC when used by inexperienced dentists. Fifty extracted teeth were imaged using an RVG6000. Seven dentists who had just passed the Japanese National Dental Board Examination observed those images without LDDC (woLDDC) and assessed the probability that caries lesions were present, then re-assessed the same teeth using LDDC (wLDDC). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (Az) were compared. No statistically significant difference was found between woLDDC Az values and wLDDC Az values when caries lesions of all depths were considered. When positive cases were restricted to caries lesions in the inner half of the enamel or to dentine caries lesions, however, wLDDC Az values were significantly larger than woLDDC (p = 0.043 and 0.018, respectively).