Comparison between Conventional Radiography (IOPA) and Digital Radiography Using Bitewing Technique in Detecting the Depth of Alveolar Bone Loss

The objective of present study is to assess the depth of alveolar bone loss by using Conventional radiography (IOPA) and Digital radiography (RVG) technique in periodontitis as it affects the connective tissue attachment and supporting bone around the teeth. The study was carried out on 40 males and 10 females aged between 20 – 65 years who have generalized mild to severe chronic periodontitis. A series of conventional bitewing radiographs and digital bitewing radiographs (15,16,17,25,26,27,35,36,37,45,46,47) were taken for each patient. The Statistical software namely SPSS version 16.0 was used for data analysis. Paired t-test was performed on all the variables to evaluate between both the groups at p ≤ 0.05. The overall results showed the mean statistical difference between both the conventional and digital bitewing radiographs as 0.4595. It was observed that overall digital bitewing radiographs averaged about 0.4mm greater bone loss than conventional bitewing radiographs. It was concluded that digital radiographs showed better results when compared to conventional radiographs in terms of alveolar bone loss as RVG has superior image recording capabilities.