• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.32 no.1 s.90
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• pp.59-69
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of lateral cephalometric landmarks according to radiographic image enhancement, and to contribute to the identification of cephalometric landmarks. Lateral cephalograms of ten individuals were taken and stored into computer. The images were then enhanced up to four grades by Quick Ceph Image Pro$^{TM}$ on condition that the gray-scale equalization number was 50 and the detail enhancement number was 50. After thirty two landmarks were identified on monitor images by five observers, the deviations from the mean, the distances estimated between identified points and the mean point of five identified points, were evaluated for each landmark at each enhancement grade. Through the statistical analysis, following results were obtained. 1. In case of unenhanced radiographic images, the inter-observer reproducibility of the landmarks showed a large variation. 2. The comparison of deviation from the mean according to the degree of radiographic image enhancement for each landmark showed that the inter-observer reproducibility was significantly different at 5 landmarks. 3. The landmark of pterygomaxillary fissure showed higher reproducibility at enhancement grade 1 and 2 images than at unenhanced images. So did the landmark of posterior nasal spine at enhancement grade 1 images, and the landmark of menton at enhancement grade 2, 3 and 4 images respectively. The above results suggest that the reproducibility of some landmarks can be increased by radiographic image enhancement during the identification of the lateral cephalometric landmarks on the monitor.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.387-396
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• 1999

In dentistry. RadioVisioGraphy was introduced as a first electronic dental x-ray imaging modality in 1989. Thereafter. many types of direct digital radiographic system have been produced in the last decade. They are based either on charge-coupled device(CCD) or on storage phosphor technology. In addition. new types of digital radiographic system using amorphous selenium. image intensifier etc. are under development. Advantages of digital radiographic system are elimination of chemical processing, reduction in radiation dose. image processing, computer storage. electronic transfer of images and so on. Image processing includes image enhancement. image reconstruction. digital subtraction, etc. Especially digital subtraction and reconstruction can be applied in many aspects of clinical practice and research. Electronic transfer of images enables filmless dental hospital and teleradiology/teledentistry system. Since the first image management and communications system(IMACS) for dentomaxillofacial radiology was reported in 1992. IMACS in dental hospital has been increasing. Meanwhile. researches about computer-assisted diagnosis, such as structural analysis of bone trabecular patterns of mandible. feature extraction, automated identification of normal landmarks on cephalometric radiograph and automated image analysis for caries or periodontitis. have been performed actively in the last decade. Further developments in digital radiographic imaging modalities. image transmission system. imaging processing and automated analysis software will change the traditional clinical dental practice in the 21st century.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.391-397
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• 2011

Conventional film radiographic test has been generally and widely used in the inspection on the weldment for quality assurance. On the other hand, since the analog RT is well known for typical time and cost consuming method with complex process of inspection, the industry has researched various ways how to improve radiographic test technology. In this study, we verified the fact that digital RT provides a lot more benefit in effectively detecting defects, ever film details, through digital processing of image enhancement, compared to film RT. As a result, we reached conclusion that digital RT is positively able to replace the film RT in industry in part or in whole.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.213-219
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• 2002

Purpose : Computed radiography (CR) has been used in cephalometric radiography and many studies have been carried out to improve image quality using various digital enhancement and filtering techniques, During CR image acquisition, the frequency rank and type affect to the image quality. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic quality of conventional cephalometric radiographs to those of computed radiography. Materials and Methods : The diagnostic quality of conventional cephalometric radiographs (MO) and their digital image counterparts were compared, and at the same time, six modalities (M1-M6) of spatial frequency-processed digital images were compared by evaluating the reproducibility of 23 cephalometric landmark locations. Reproducibility was defined as an observer's deviation (in mm) from the mean between all observers. Results and Conclusion: In comparison with the conventional cephalometric radiograph (MO), Ml showed statistically significant differences in 8 locations, M2 in 9, M3 12, M4 in 7, M5 in 12, and M6 showed significant differences in 14 of 23 landmark locations (p < 0.05). The number of reproducible landmarks that each modality possesses were 7 in M6, 6 in M5, 5 in M3, 4 in M4, 3 in M2, 2 in Ml, and 1 location in MO. The image modality that observers selected as having the best image quality was M5.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2013

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the measurement accuracy of endodontic file length on periapical digital radiography after application of noise reduction digital enhancement. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five human single-rooted permanent teeth with canals measuring 20-24 mm in length were selected. ISO #08 endodontic files were placed in the root canals of the teeth. The file lengths were measured with a digital caliper as the standard value. Standard periapical digital images were obtained using the Digora digital radiographic system and a dental X-ray unit. In order to produce the enhanced images, the noise reduction option was applied. Two blinded radiologists measured the file lengths on the original and enhanced images. The measurements were compared by repeated measures ANOVA and the Bonferroni test (${\alpha}=0.05$). Results: Both the original and enhanced digital images provided significantly longer measurements compared with the standard value (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the measurement accuracy of the original and enhanced images (P>0.05). Conclusion: Noise reduction digital enhancement did not influence the measurement accuracy of the length of the thin endodontic files on the digital periapical radiographs despite the fact that noise reduction could result in the elimination of fine details of the images.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.273-282
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• 1992

The purpose of this study was to propose the utility which was evaluated the digital image processing and clinical application of the videodensitomery. The experiments were performed with IBM-PC/16bit-AT compatible, video camera(CCdtr55, Sony Co., Japan), an color monitor(MultiSync 3D, NEC, Japan) providing the resolution of 512×480 and 64 levels of gray. Sylvia Image Capture Board for the ADC(analog to digital converter) was used, composed of digitized image from digital signal and the radiographic density was measured by 256 level of gray. The periapical radiograph(Ektaspeed EP-21, Kodak Co., U. S. A) which was radiographed dried human mandible by exposure condition of 70 kVp and 48 impulses, was used for primary X-ray detector. And them evaluated for digitzed image by low and high pass filtering, correlations between aluminum equivalent values and the thickness of aluminum step wedge, aluminum equivalent values of sound enamel, dentin, and alveolar bone, the range of diffuse density for gray level ranging from 0 to 255. The obtained results were as follows: 1. The edge between aluminum steps of digitized image were somewhat blurred by low pass filtering, but edge enhancement could be resulted by high pass filtering. Expecially, edge enhancement between distal root of lower left 2nd molar and alveolar lamina dura was observed. 2. The correlation between aluminum equivalent values and the thickness of aluminum step wedge was intimated, yielding the coefficient of correlation r=0.9997(p<0.00l), the regression line was described by Y=0.9699X+0.456, and coefficient of variation amounting to 1.5%. 3. The aluminum equivalent values of sound enamel, dentin, and alvolar bone were 15.41㎜, 12.48㎜, 10.35㎜, respectively. 4. The range of diffuse density for gray level ranging from 0 to 255 was wider enough than that of photodenstiometer to be within the range of 1-4.9.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2010

Purpose : This study was performed to examine the effects of image filter on observer performance by counting the number of holes at each wedge step on a radiographic image. Materials and Methods : An aluminum step wedge with 11 steps ranged in thickness from 1.5 mm to 16.5 mm in 1.5 mm increments was fabricated for this study. Each step had 10 notched holes with 1.0 mm diameter on the bottom of the step wedge which were ranged in depths from 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm in 0.1 mm increments. Digital radiographic raw images of the aluminum step wedge were acquired by using CCD intraoral sensor. The images were processed using several types of noise reduction filters and kernel sizes. Three observers counted the number of holes which could be discriminated on each step. The data were analyzed by ANOVA. Results : The number of holes at each step was decreased as the thickness of step was increased. The number of holes at each step on the raw images was significantly higher than that on the processed images. The number of holes was different according to the types and kernel sizes of the image filters. Conclusions : The types and kernel sizes of image filters on observer performance were important, therefore, they should be standardized for commercial digital imaging systems.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.243-247
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was performed to compare the inverted digital images and film-based images of dry pig mandibles to measure the periodontal bone defect depth. Materials and Methods: Forty 2-wall bone defects were made in the proximal region of the premolar in the dry pig mandibles. The digital and conventional radiographs were taken using a Schick sensor and Kodak F-speed intraoral film. Image manipulation (inversion) was performed using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software. Four trained examiners made all of the radiographic measurements in millimeters a total of three times from the cementoenamel junction to the most apical extension of the bone loss with both types of images: inverted digital and film. The measurements were also made in dry mandibles using a periodontal probe and digital caliper. The Student's t-test was used to compare the depth measurements obtained from the two types of images and direct visual measurement in the dry mandibles. A significance level of 0.05 for a 95% confidence interval was used for each comparison. Results: There was a significant difference between depth measurements in the inverted digital images and direct visual measurements (p>|t|=0.0039), with means of 6.29 mm ($IC_{95%}$:6.04-6.54) and 6.79 mm ($IC_{95%}$:6.45-7.11), respectively. There was a non-significant difference between the film-based radiographs and direct visual measurements (p>|t|=0.4950), with means of 6.64mm($IC_{95%}$:6.40-6.89) and 6.79mm($IC_{95%}$:6.45-7.11), respectively. Conclusion: The periodontal bone defect measurements in the inverted digital images were inferior to film-based radiographs, underestimating the amount of bone loss.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2020

Purpose: As cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has become the most widely used 3-dimensional (3D) imaging modality in the dental field, storage space and costs for large-capacity data have become an important issue. Therefore, if 3D data can be stored at a clinically acceptable compression rate, the burden in terms of storage space and cost can be reduced and data can be managed more efficiently. In this study, a deep learning network for super-resolution was tested to restore compressed virtual CBCT images. Materials and Methods: Virtual CBCT image data were created with a publicly available online dataset (CQ500) of multidetector computed tomography images using CBCT reconstruction software (TIGRE). A very deep super-resolution (VDSR) network was trained to restore high-resolution virtual CBCT images from the low-resolution virtual CBCT images. Results: The images reconstructed by VDSR showed better image quality than bicubic interpolation in restored images at various scale ratios. The highest scale ratio with clinically acceptable reconstruction accuracy using VDSR was 2.1. Conclusion: VDSR showed promising restoration accuracy in this study. In the future, it will be necessary to experiment with new deep learning algorithms and large-scale data for clinical application of this technology.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of clinical image quality of panoramic radiographs and to analyze the parameters that influence the overall image quality. Materials and Methods: Korean dental clinics were asked to provide three randomly selected panoramic radiographs. An oral and maxillofacial radiology specialist evaluated those images using our self-developed Clinical Image Quality Evaluation Chart. Three evaluators classified the overall image quality of the panoramic radiographs and evaluated the causes of imaging errors. Results: A total of 297 panoramic radiographs were collected from 99 dental hospitals and clinics. The mean of the scores according to the Clinical Image Quality Evaluation Chart was 79.9. In the classification of the overall image quality, 17 images were deemed 'optimal for obtaining diagnostic information,' 153 were 'adequate for diagnosis,' 109 were 'poor but diagnosable,' and nine were 'unrecognizable and too poor for diagnosis'. The results of the analysis of the causes of the errors in all the images are as follows: 139 errors in the positioning, 135 in the processing, 50 from the radiographic unit, and 13 due to anatomic abnormality. Conclusion: Panoramic radiographs taken at local dental clinics generally have a normal or higher-level image quality. Principal factors affecting image quality were positioning of the patient and image density, sharpness, and contrast. Therefore, when images are taken, the patient position should be adjusted with great care. Also, standardizing objective criteria of image density, sharpness, and contrast is required to evaluate image quality effectively.