History of Digital Detectors in Intraoral Radiography

The first digital sensor used in intraoral radiography, RadioVisioGraphy was introduced in 1987. It was based on the activity of a charged-Coupled Device (CCD) sensor. Later on, other digital sensors became commercially available, including the Digora featuring an imaging plate coated with photostimulable phosphor (PSP) in 1994 and the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-based sensor, CDR active pixel sensor, in 1998. These technologies have recently undergone considerable improvement, and several dental clinics have switched from film-based systems to digital imaging. In the early days, digital sensors were considered inferior to film in clinical diagnostics, but according to recent research results, there is no longer any significant difference because of the improvement in performance. However, our latest research using a new evaluation method and a precise phantom model indicated some differences between the performance of CCD and PSP systems and further differences between PSP systems of different function and performance

Principles of the magnetic resonance imaging movie method for articulatory movement : a review

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become a critical tool for dental examination. MRI has many advantages over radiographic examination methods, including the lack of a requirement for patient exposure and the ability to capture high-contrast images of various tissue and organ types. However, MRI also has several limitations, including long examination times and the existence of metallic or motion artifacts. A cardiac imaging method using cine sequences was developed in the 1990s. This technique allows for analysis of heart movement and functional blood flow. Moreover, this method has been applied in dentistry. Recent research involving 3T MRI has led to the achievement of a temporal resolution of <10 ms, surpassing the frame rate of typical video recording. The current review introduces the history and principles of the cine sequence method and its application to the oral and maxillofacial regions

Changes in Image Examinations at the Department of Oral Radiology : The Number of Intraoral and Panoramic Radiographs

After the computed radiography (CR) system was developed in 1986, it became possible to acquire, view and save digital images for medical diagnosis. Around that time, panoramic radiography was digitized by the CR system, but it was limited to large hospitals. From 1994, it has been digitized at large hospitals and dental clinics. We examined the changes in the number of intraoral and panoramic radiographs in dentistry, and based on the relationships among the numbers of radiographs, patients and dental operations, we discussed the clinical significance of digitization. We extracted intraoral and panoramic radiography data, the number of dental operations and the number of patients from the database of Tokushima University Hospital from 2002 to 2017. Then, we extracted nationwide data from Statistics of Medical Care Activities in Public Health by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare from 2002 to 2017. As a result, although the numbers of patients and dental operations at Tokushima University Hospital have remained constant, the number of intraoral radiographs has decreased (72%), whereas the number of panoramic radiographs has increased annually since 2011 (131%). In addition, although the number of patients and nationwide insurance points increased in a different manner than that at Tokushima University Hospital, a decrease in the number of intraoral radiographs and an increase in the number of panoramic radiographs were noted across Japan. As panoramic imaging has been improved and adapted to different settings, panoramic radiography has been used instead of intraoral radiography, and it has been widely used in screening applications such as for perioperative patients. Although digitization is progressing, the analog images are still used (intraoral radiography analog rate, 29.7%, panoramic radiography analog rate, 12.4% in 2017)