Image quality assessment in panoramic dental radiography: a comparative study between conventional and digital systems

This study is designed to compare and evaluate the diagnostic image quality of dental panoramic radiography between conventional and digital systems. Fifty-four panoramic images were collected and divided into three groups consisting of conventional, digital with and without post processing image. Each image was printed out and scored subjectively by two experienced dentists who were blinded to the exposure parameters and system protocols. The evaluation covers of anatomical coverage and structures, density and image contrast. The overall image quality score revealed that digital panoramic with post-processing scored the highest of 3.45 +/- 0.19, followed by digital panoramic system without post-processing and conventional panoramic system with corresponding scores of 3.33 +/- 0.33 and 2.06 +/- 0.40. In conclusion, images produced by digital panoramic system are better in diagnostic image quality than that from conventional panoramic system. Digital post-processing visualization can improve diagnostic quality significantly in terms of radiographic density and contrast.