Radiological and histopathological evaluation of experimentally-induced periapical lesion in rats

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated experimentally-induced periapical bone loss sites using digital radiographic and histopathologic parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-seven Wistar rats were submitted to coronal opening of their mandibular right first molars. They were radiographed at 2, 15 and 30 days after the operative procedure by two digital radiographic storage phosphor plates (Digora®). The images were analyzed by creating a region of interest at the periapical region of each tooth (ImageJ) and registering the corresponding pixel values. After the sacrifice, the specimens were submit...