Assessing the Accuracy of Cone-beam Computed Tomography in Measuring Thinning Oral and Buccal Bon.

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and reliability of cone-beam computed tomography in measuring thinning bone surrounding dental implants. Three implants were inserted into the mandible of a domestic pig at 6 different bone thicknesses on the vestibular and the lingual sides, and measurements were recorded using cone-beam computed tomography. The results were obtained, analyzed, and compared to areas without implants. Our results indicated that the bone thickness and the neighboring implants decreased the accuracy and reliability of cone-beam computed tomography for measuring bone volume around dental implants. We concluded that cone-beam computed tomography slightly under-measured the bone thickness around the implant, both buccally and orally, compared to the same thickness without the implant. These results support that using the i-CAT NG with a 0.2 voxel size is not accurate for either qualitative or quantitative bone evaluations, especially when the bone is thinner than 0.72 mm in the horizontal dimension