Assessments of the physical performance of 2 generations of 2 direct digital intraoral sensors

Objective. To evaluate the performance of 4 intraoral direct digital sensors regarding their fundamental physical characteristics. The sensors are made by Schick Technologies Inc (Long Island City, NY) and Gender Dental Systems (Milan, Italy). Study design. The sensors were exposed by using a Prostyle dental x-ray machine (Planmeca Oy, Helsinki, Finland) operating at 50 kV, 8 mA and various exposure times. Three test phantoms were used: a homogeneous 10-mm thick aluminum block, an aluminum block with a pattern of holes of varying sizes, and a resolving power target. Digital images were transferred as 8 bit TIFF files and analyzed by using a personal computer. Results and conclusions. Some improvements could be observed in the physical performance of the new generation of direct digital radiographic sensors when compared with the earlier generation. Smaller pixels and higher quantum efficiency have improved sensor performance.