PURPOSE: Erosions and osteophytes are radiographic characteristics that are found in different stages of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis. This study assessed the effectiveness of digital subtraction radiography (DSR) in diagnosing simulated osteophytes and erosions in the TMJ. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five intact, dry human skulls were used to assess the effectiveness of DSR in detecting osteophytes. Four cortical bone chips of varying thicknesses (0.5 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.0 mm) were placed at the medial, central, and lateral aspects of the condyle anterior surface. Two defects of varying depth (1.0 mm and 1.5 mm) were created on the lateral, central, and medial poles of the condyles of 2 skulls to simulate erosions. Panoramic images of the condyles were acquired before and after artificially creating the changes. Digital subtraction was performed with Emago dental image archiving software. Five observers familiar with the interpretation of TMJ radiographs evaluated the images. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the imaging methods. RESULTS: The area under the ROC curve (Az) value for the overall diagnostic accuracy of DSR in detecting osteophytic changes was 0.931. The Az value for the overall diagnostic accuracy of panoramic imaging was 0.695. The accuracy of DSR in detecting erosive changes was 0.854 and 0.696 for panoramic imaging. DSR was remarkably more accurate than panoramic imaging in detecting simulated osteophytic and erosive changes. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of panoramic imaging in detecting degenerative changes was significantly lower than the accuracy of DSR (P<.05). DSR improved the accuracy of detection using panoramic images.
Humans ; Osteoarthritis ; Osteophyte* ; Radiography* ; Radiography, Panoramic ; ROC Curve ; Skull ; Subtraction Technique ; Temporomandibular Joint*

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate 3-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of alveolar bone changes in patients who underwent minimally invasive periodontal surgery-namely, the pinhole surgical technique (PST). Materials and Methods: Alveolar bone height was measured and compared on CBCT images of 254 teeth from 23 consecutive patients with Miller class I, II, or III recession who had undergone PST. No patient with active periodontal disease was selected for surgery. Two different methods were used to assess the alveolar bone changes postoperatively. In both methods, the distance between the apex of the tooth and the mid-buccal alveolar crestal bone on pre- and post-surgical CBCT studies was measured. Results: An average alveolar bone gain >0.5 mm following PST was identified using CBCT (P=0.05). None of the demographic variables, including sex, age, and time since surgery, had any significant effect on bone gain during follow-up, which ranged from 8 months to 3 years. Conclusion PST appears to be a promising treatment modality for recession that results in stable clinical outcomes and may lead to some level of resolution on the bone level. More long-term studies must be done to evaluate the impact of this novel technique on bone remodeling and to assess sustained bone levels within a larger study population.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess artifacts generated in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) of 3 types of dental implants using 3 metal artifact reduction (MAR) algorithm conditions (pre-acquisition MAR, postacquisition MAR, and no MAR), and 2 peak kilovoltage (kVp) settings. Materials and Methods: Titanium-zirconium, titanium, and zirconium alloy implants were placed in a dry mandible. CBCT images were acquired using 84 and 90 kVp and at normal resolution for all 3 MAR conditions. The images were analyzed using ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD) to calculate the intensity of artifacts for each combination of material and settings. A 3-factor analysis of variance model with up to 3-way interactions was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in the mean intensity of artifacts associated with each factor. Results: The analysis of all 3 MAR conditions showed that using no MAR resulted in substantially more severe artifacts than either of the 2 MAR algorithms for the 3 implant materials; however, there were no significant differences between pre- and post-acquisition MAR. The 90 kVp setting generated less intense artifacts on average than the 84 kVp setting. The titanium-zirconium alloy generated significantly less intense artifacts than zirconium. Titanium generated artifacts at an intermediate level relative to the other 2 implant materials, but was not statistically significantly different from either. Conclusion This in vitro study suggests that artifacts can be minimized by using a titanium-zirconium alloy at the 90 kVp setting, with either MAR setting.