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Erschienen in:
01.11.2011 | original article
Relationship of mandibular canal to root apices of mandibular molars
Accuracy of intraoral periapical radiographs
Erschienen in: international journal of stomatology & occlusion medicine | Ausgabe 3/2011
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Objectives
The objective of the study was to assess the accuracy of intraoral periapical radiographs (IOPAR) in determining the relationship of the mandibular canal to root apices of mandibular molars.
Methods
Dry mandibles (n = 4) with intact second molars were chosen randomly and were cut into half in the midline. All eight hemimandibles were subjected to radiological evaluation using IOPARs and computed tomography scans to determine the relationship of the mandibular canal to root apices of mandibular second molar. The hemimandibles were then cut coronally in the second molar region to examine the actual relationship of the mandibular canal to the root apices. All the measurements were recorded by two maxillofacial radiologists. The variance between the three groups was estimated using analysis of variance between groups (ANOVA).
Results
The average difference of values between direct measurements and values measured on IOPARs was 0.88 ± 0.49 mm (variance = 0.24 mm) while the average difference of values between direct measurements and values measured with computed tomography scan was 0.35 ± 0.31 mm (variance = 0.096 mm).
Conclusion
Measurements on both IOPARs and computed tomography images underestimated the distance between the root apex and mandibular canal when compared to actual measured distances, although it was considerably less on the latter. Computed tomography measurements showed significantly less variance. Computed tomography is therefore a superior investigative modality although IOPARs remains more convenient.