title: Intra-surgical vs. radiographic bone level assessments in measuring peri-implant bone loss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the accuracy between the intra-surgical and the peri-apical radiographic measurements of bone loss at implant with peri-implantitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 46 Brånemark implants in 24 patients with diagnosis of peri-implantitis were included in the study. The amount of peri-implant bone loss occurred at those implants was measured during peri-implant surgery and compared to the radiographic bone loss measured by three independent examiners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean bone loss measured on radiographs underestimated the intra-surgical bone loss at the correspondent sites (0.7 mm at the mesial and 0.6 mm at the distal sites); this underestimation was found to be a consistent finding in all the three examiners. Only 21% of the radiographic measurements corresponded to the clinical bone loss assessments, while an over- and underestimation within a range of ± 1-2 mm was recorded in 57% of the cases. There was a moderate positive linear correlation between the radiographic measurements and the clinical bone loss for mesial and distal sites (r = range 0.58-0.65). The variability between the three examiners in the radiographic measurements was frequently on the range of ± 1-2 mm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The radiographic measurements of bone loss at implant affected by peri-implantitis often underestimated the clinical bone loss occurred at the implants. A difference of about ± 1-2 mm in the estimation of radiographic bone loss could be merely assigned as inter-examiner different assessments.
authors.affiliation: Specialistic Clinic in Periodontics, Södra Älvsborg Hospital, Borås, Sweden.|Research and Developments Unit, Borås, Sweden.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Serino
authors.affiliation: Specialistic Clinic in Periodontics, Södra Älvsborg Hospital, Borås, Sweden.|Sweden Dental Center, Tokjo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirohisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Seven Fields Dental Health Center, Swindon, UK.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Biomatcell Vinn, Excellence Center of Biomaterials and Cell Therapy, Göteborg, Sweden.|The Brånemark Clinic, Odontologen, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turri
mesh_terms: D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D015588:Observer Variation; D011861:Radiography, Dental; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: bone loss; diagnosis; implant dentistry; peri-implantitis; radiographic