Effectiveness of digital subtraction radiography in detecting artificially created osteophytes and erosions in the temporomandibular joint

Diagnosis of TMJ degenerative diseases by panoramic radiography: is it possible? A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this work was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of panoramic radiography in detecting degenerative diseases of the temporomandibular joint.

METHOD

The protocol was registered at the PROSPERO website. To consider the eligibility of studies to be included/excluded from this review, the acronym "PIRDS" was used and appropriate word combinations and truncations were adapted in the following electronic databases: PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library.

RESULTS

A total of 2572 references, after the removal of duplicates, were retrieved from the eight electronic databases. After reading the titles and abstracts, a total of 26 articles were selected for full reading, of which ten were excluded, resulting in 16 articles included for qualitative synthesis. All in vivo studies were classified as having a low risk of bias. Regarding in vitro studies none of the included studies scored below 80% in the overall evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

Both in vitro and in vivo studies consistently report a low accuracy in detecting degenerative diseases of the temporomandibular joint using panoramic radiography.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Cone-beam computed tomography offers a superior image quality without overlapping structures and a higher accuracy compared to panoramic radiography. However, panoramic radiography can still serve as an initial examination when combined with a clinical assessment. CBCT should be reserved for cases where there are evident clinical and/or radiographic alterations that recommend its use. This approach ensures a judicious and cost-effective use of CBCT resources.

From pixel to image analysis

Over the past 50 years, computer technology has evolved enormously. This has made it possible to carry out radiography in a completely new way, allowing to process X-ray images in an advanced manner and to extract the information from the image data. This article gives an overview of some of the most important developments in dental radiology. These include capturing the images, analysing and interpreting the image information and using the images for 3D reconstruction.