Purpose Cone-beam computed technology (CBCT) is a relatively new medium for maxillofacial conditions. Developed in 1998, commercial cone beam technology has been commonly used since 2000. CBCT offers ...less radiation than computed tomography (CT) in 3D image construction. With the meteoric rise in the number of dental implant surgeries, CBCT could become a common machine in dental offices. The objective of this study is to validate the accuracy of CBCT tooth measurements. Materials Twelve embalmed cadavers had a complete CBCT of the head and neck region. Ninety-six teeth (8 per cadaver) were extracted in total, but only 69 were collected and measured. CEN-TECH electronic calipers were used to measure the extracted teeth. iCAT measurements were used for imaged teeth. Methods A literature search was conducted on the validity and use of CBCT regarding tooth measurements for implant surgery. Extracted teeth were measured in the vertical, facial to lingual, and mesial to distal dimensions. Exclusion factors included crown or root fracture damage during extraction. Results A literature search revealed studies that validated bone measurements using 14 different location points on the maxilla and 17 anatomical landmarks on the skull. Both studies validated bone measurements on CBCT. However, no studies were identified measuring teeth lengths for implant surgery. Three, two-tailed, paired t-test compared the iCAT image measurements to the extracted teeth measurements for each dimension. There was no statistical significance for each dimension. Conclusion This study suggests using iCAT measurements on teeth from CBCT imaging would reflect the actual tooth length and could be beneficial for implant surgery.
Introduction Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging has broadened opportunities for examining morphologic aspects of the craniofacial complex, including alveolar bone, but limitations of the ...technology have yet to be defined. Through the use of comparisons with direct measurements, the purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy and reliability of buccal alveolar bone height and thickness measurements derived from CBCT images. Methods Twelve embalmed cadaver heads (5 female, 7 male; mean age: 77 years) were scanned with an i-CAT 17-19 unit (Imaging Sciences International, Hatfield, Pa) at 0.3 mm voxel size. Buccal alveolar bone height and thickness measurements of 65 teeth were made in standardized radiographic slices and compared with direct measurements made by dissection. All measurements were repeated 3 times by 2 independent raters and examined for intrarater and interrater reliability. Measurement means were compared with 2-tailed t tests. Agreement between direct and CBCT measurements was assessed by concordance correlation coefficients, Pearson correlation coefficients, and Bland-Altman plots. Results Intrarater reliability was high as were interrater correlations for all measurements (≥0.97) except CBCT buccal bone thickness (0.90). CBCT measurements did not differ significantly from direct measurements, and there was no pattern of underestimation or overestimation. The mean absolute differences were 0.30 mm in buccal bone height and 0.13 mm in buccal bone thickness with 95% limits of agreement of −0.77 to 0.81 mm, and −0.32 to 0.38 mm, respectively. Agreement between the 2 methods was higher for the measurements of buccal bone height than buccal bone thickness, as demonstrated by concordance correlation coefficients of 0.98 and 0.86, respectively. Conclusions For the protocol used in this study, CBCT can be used to quantitatively assess buccal bone height and buccal bone thickness with high precision and accuracy. Comparing the 2 sets of CBCT measurements, buccal bone height had greater reliability and agreement with direct measurements than did the buccal bone thickness measurements.
