Image-Based Hybrid Scaffold Design for Multiple Tissue Regeneration Application in Periodontal Engineering.

Periodontal disease is a common chronic inflammatory disease, which if left untreated, can cause periodontal tissue breakdown. The periodontal complex is a micron-scaled, tooth-supporting structure with a complicated topology, which makes it difficult to predict and quantify periodontal tissue destruction. Unlike conventional assessment methods, 3-D micro-computed tomography provides very accurate, precise high resolution images of the periodontal topology. Using natural spatiotemporal landmarks to create a region-of-interest from the roof-of-furcation to the root-apex, volumetric image analysis of the bone-tooth interface was performed. The results demonstrated excellent examiner reproducibility and reliability (ICC>0.99 and CV