Cross-sectional imaging of the jaws for dental implant treatment: accuracy of linear tomography using a panoramic machine in comparison with reformatted computed tomography.
OBJECTIVE
Although various panoramic X-ray machines with linear tomographic functions are now frequently applied to diagnosis related to dental implant treatment, the angles of the tomographic objective planes are automatically determined and cannot be adjusted for individual patients. To resolve this problem, a direct laser positioning (DLP) system was developed. In this investigation, the measurement accuracy of images obtained by the DLP system in comparison with those from reformatted computed tomography (CT) was assessed.


METHODS
A rectangular parallel piped phantom was scanned with the system and the height and width were measured on linear tomograms. Ten sites in 3 dried mandibles and 21 mandibular molar sites in 15 patients were examined both with the DLP system and the reformatted CT to compare the measured values on both images.


RESULTS
The phantom experiment showed that the difference between the actual and measured heights and widths of the phantom were within 1 mm.


CONCLUSIONS
The difference between the values obtained by the DLP system and CT was slightly larger in the patients than those in the dried mandibles.


CONCLUSIONS
The DLP measurement accuracy was deemed sufficient for clinical use.
Naitoh
Munetaka
M
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Aichi-Gakuin University School of Dentistry, Oral Implant Clinic, Dental Hospital, Nagoya, Japan. mune@dpc.aichi-gakuin.ac.jp
Kawamata
Akitoshi
A
Iida
Hiroto
H
Ariji
Eiichiro
E
D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007575:Jaw, Edentulous / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation