DIAGNOSIS OF INFRA-ALVEOLAR BONY LESIONS IN THE DENTATE ALVEOLAR PROCESS WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY - EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. Conventional intraoral radiography was compared with axial computed tomography (CT) scans for identification and classification of bony pockets in dentate jaw segments. METHODS. Fifty-five artificial bone defects were produced in six dentate jaw segments, The jaws were examined radiographically using a dental x-ray unit and by contiguous axial CT scans, Identification, classification, and vertical depth of the bony defects were compared among the specimens, radiographs, and CT scans. RESULTS. On the intraoral radiographs, 38 (69%) bony lesions were identified, and the vertical depth was underestimated by a mean of 2.2 mm, compared with the objective measurements on the jaws, In contrast, all artificial bony lesions (100%) were identified and classified on the axial CT scans and the vertical depth was underestimated by a mean of 0.5 mm. CONCLUSIONS. High-resolution CT improves the identification and metric assessment of the vertical dimension of infra-alveolar bony lesions compared with conventional intraoral xray films and allows these defects to be classified according to the number of existing walls into one-walled, two-walled, and three-walled bony pockets, In patients with apically extended metallic restorations, the image quality could be limited by artifacts.