Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the effect of different monitor calibration modes under various ambient lighting conditions on the ability of observers to recognize proximal carious lesions of varying depths. METHODS: 7 observers evaluated 100 teeth for proximal carious lesions on standardized digital radiographs using 3 set-ups: (1) pre-calibrated monitor for high ambient light (higher than 1000 lux), (2) pre-calibrated monitor for low ambient light (less than 50 lux) and (3) Barten calibration (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) on the monitor in dimmed ambient light (less than 50 lux). Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted for all observations. The criterion standard was histological examination of the teeth. The effects of three conditions were compared using a paired t-test. The level of significance was set to p < 0.05. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in diagnostic accuracy for the detection of any type of proximal carious lesions between the different calibration modes of the monitor according to different ambient light levels. CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence that any difference between ambient light levels affects the ability to detect carious lesions in digital radiographs as long as the monitor was calibrated in accordance with the surrounding light level.