Screening panoramic radiographs in a group of patients visiting a Health Promotion Center

Purpose : To report the incidence of radiological findings from screening panoramic radiographs and verify the validity of the panoramic radiography for screening purposes. Materials and Methods : Six thousand one hundred and sixty panoramic radiographs taken from the patients visiting the Health Promotion Center of CNUH were selected for this retrospective study. Panoramic radiographs were examined into the following pathologic conditions : the presence of periodontal bone loss, dental caries, periapical radiolucencies, retained roots, impacted supernumerary teeth, impacted third molars, odontoma, cystic lesions other than radicular cyst, sialoliths, and mixed radiolucent-radiopaque lesions. Number of pathologic conditions and Prevalence values were recorded. Results: The prevalences of pathologic conditions were $72.9\%$ of periodontal bone loss, $32.2\%$ of dental caries, $11.9\%$ of periapical radiolucencies, $10.8\%$ of retained roots, $0.4\%$ of root fracture, $1.0\%$ of impacted supernumerary teeth, $1.0\%$ of impacted third molars, $0.06\%$ of odontoma, $0.08\%$ of cystic lesion other than radicular cyst, $0.2\%$ of prolonged retention of deciduous tooth, $0.1\%$ of sialolith, and $0.04\%$ of mixed radiopaque and radiolucent lesion. Conclusion : Although the panoramic radiograph should not be used to replace intraoral radiographic and clinical examinations, this study showed that many dental pathologic conditions could be detected on panoramic radiographs. The panoramic radiograph might serve as a diagnostic aid in dental health evaluation programs.