Micro-computerised Tomography Optimisation for the Measurement of Bone Mineral Density around Titanium Dental Implants

Abstract

Titanium dental implants (screws) are commonly used to replace missing teeth by forming a biological union with bone (“osseointegration”). Micro-computerised tomography (µCT) may be useful for measuring bone mineral density around dental implants. Major issues arise because of various artefacts that occur with polychromatic X-rays associated bench type instruments that may compromise interpretation of the observations. In this study various approaches to minimise artefacts such as; beam hardening, filtering and edge effects are explored with a homogeneous polymeric material, Teflon, with and without an implant present. The implications of the limitations of using such polychromatic µCT systems to quantify bone mineral density adjacent to the implant are discussed.

Keywords

• dental implants
• artefacts
• computerised tomography