Assessment of correlation between panoramic radiography and CBCT in measuring vertical bone dimensions between maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus

Abstract

Introduction: Implant treatments, despite of their high success, can be associated with complications such as perforation of the maxillary sinus floor, which can reduce the survival of implants and cause chronic sinusitis in the patient. Despite of the important role of radiographic evaluations in preventing the complications of implant surgeries, there are still many controversies regarding the best radiographic method in evaluations related to implant surgeries. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare of the accuracy of panoramic radiography and CBCT in measuring vertical bone dimensions between maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was performed on 52 patients who referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology of Tabriz Dental School during 2019-2020 and had both CBCT and panoramic radiographs in their records. For measurements, the shortest vertical distances between the maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus in panoramic and CBCT stereotypes in the mid-interdental point of the first and second molars of similar side in similar individuals with an accuracy of one tenth millimeter were measured by an oral and maxillofacial radiologist using NNT viewer software. Descriptive statistics, ICC indicator and Pearson correlation test were used to report and analyze the data. Results: In this study, the mean accuracy of CBCT images and panoramic radiographs to determine the vertical dimensions of the bone dimensions between maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus were 11.7±6.4 and 11.8±5.2, respectively. There was a high correlatiothe between the accuracy of CBCT images and panoramic radiographic images (P <0.05 and ICC=0.947). Also, there was a strong positive correlation between the measured vertical bone dimensions between maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus reported by CBCT images and panoramic radiographic images (P <0.05 and correlation = 0.905). Conclusion: The use of panoramic radiographs to assess the vertical dimensions of the bone between maxillary alveolar crest and maxillary sinus can be sufficient before implant surgery.