[Patients' acceptance of poly-soft and paper-pack X-ray film packets]

Two types of Kodak dental x-ray film packets are manufactured, paper-pack (PP) from paper, and poly-soft (PS) from vinyl. They differ in dimensions as PP measures 31.4 X 42.1 mm compared to PS measuring 33.0 x 44.3 mm. The edges of PP are rounded, while those of PS have welded, thin and sharp edges. Patients acceptance of the two types was tested among 25 adult patients during exposures for full mouth surveys. For each patient half PP and PS were used in a random sequence. The patients were asked to rate any feeling of discomfort or pain and to compare the feeling after each pair of film packets. The scores were compared by Wilcoxon's matched-pairs signed-ranks test. The results revealed with a statistical significance at the 1% level, that the patients felt more discomfort when the poly-soft packet was used. No affections of image quality were noticed. In spite of the higher level of discomfort resulting from the use of PS it seems justified to recommend this type due to its superior hygienic qualities.