Analysis of Weighted Fraction of Length for Interfacial Gap in Cervical Composite Restorations as a Function of the Number of B-Scans of OCT Volume Scans

Abstract

In dental research, the morphometric assessment of restorations is a challenge. This also applies to the assessment of the length of interfacial adhesive defects in composite restorations as a measure of tooth-restoration bond failure. The determined mean fractions of interfacial gap length on enamel and dentin interfaces deviate from the true means (N → ∞), depending on the number (Ni) of object layers assessed. Cervical composite restorations were imaged with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The mean fractions of interfacial gap length on enamel and dentin were determined for an increasing number of OCT cross-sectional images (B-scans) per restoration and were graphically displayed as a function of the number of B-scans. As the number of B-scans increased, the calculated object means approached a range of ±2.5%. This analysis is appropriate for displaying the relationship between the determined mean fraction of interfacial gap length at the enamel/dentin-restoration interface and the number of B-scans.

Keywords

• cervical composite restorations
• spectral domain optical coherence tomography
• analysis of cross-sectional OCT images
• mean fraction of interfacial gap length
• mean calculation