Resumo

LOURENCO, Anna Débora Araújo; PONTUAL, Andréa dos Anjos; SILVEIRA, Márcia Maria Fonseca da  e  PONTUAL, Maria Luíza dos Anjos. Radiographic image quality after interruption of the fixing stage to view the image with a viewbox. Rev. odonto ciênc. (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.25, n.1, pp. 78-82. ISSN 1980-6523.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the quality of radiographic images with regard to the time during which the fixing stage was interrupted to allow a preliminary reading of the image in the viewbox. METHODS: Radiographs were taken with 130 Insight^® periapical films, including a step-wedge and lead plate. The films were distributed into 13 groups according to the time taken for reading in a viewbox: 0 (control), 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 s. During processing using the temperature-time method, the films in the experimental groups were removed 5 s after immersion in the fixer, placed against the light of a viewbox for the studied times and then re-immersed in the fixer to complete the fixation process. Base-plus-fog density and the densities of the first and last degree of the step-wedge were measured immediately and after six months to calculate the contrast. RESULTS: There were no significant differences with regard to the base-plus-fog density or the contrast values of the experimental groups when compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that interrupting the radiograph fixation process to read the image in a viewbox does not interfere with the base-plus-fog density or with the radiographic contrast, even six months after they were taken.

Palavras-chave : Quality control; Dental Radiology; chemical process; densitometry.