Background

Periodontitis is an infectious/inflammatory disease most often diagnosed by deepening of the gingival sulcus, which leads to periodontal pockets (PPs) conventional manual periodontal probing does not provide detailed information on the three-dimensional (3-D) nature of PPs.

Objectives

To determine whether accurate 3-D analyses of the depths and volumes of calibrated PP analogues (PPAs) can be obtained by conventional cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) coupled with novel radiopaque micro-particle fillers (described in the companion paper) injected into the PPAs.

Methods

Two PPA models were employed: (1) a human skull model with artificial gingiva applied to teeth with alveolar bone loss and calibrated PPAs, and (2) a pig jaw model with alveolar bone loss and surgically-induced PPAs The PPAs were filled with controlled amounts of radiopaque micro-particle filler using volumetric pipetting Inter-method and intra-method agreement tests were then used to compare the PPA depths and volumes obtained from CBCT images with values obtained by masked examiners using calibrated manual methods.

Results

Significant inter-method agreement (0.938–0.991) and intra-method agreement (0.94–0.99) were obtained when comparing analog manual data to digital CBCT measurements enabled by the radiopaque filler.

Significance

CBCT imaging with radiopaque micro-particle fillers is a plausible means of visualizing and digitally assessing the depths, volumes, and 3-D shapes of PPs This approach could transform the diagnosis and treatment planning of periodontal disease, with particular initial utility in complex cases Efforts to confirm the clinical practicality of these fillers are currently in progress.

中文翻译：

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不透射线的微粒填充剂在锥形束CT对牙周袋类似物的3D成像中的应用

背景

牙周炎是一种感染性/炎症性疾病，最常通过牙龈沟的加深来诊断，这会导致牙周袋（PPs）。常规的手动牙周探测无法提供有关PPs三维（3-D）性质的详细信息。

目标

为了确定是否可以通过传统的锥形束计算机断层扫描（CBCT）结合注入新型不透射线的微粒填充剂（在随附论文中进行描述）来获得对校准后的PP类似物（PPA）的深度和体积的精确3-D分析。 PPA。

方法

使用了两种PPA模型：（1）将人工牙龈应用于牙槽骨缺损并校准PPA的人头骨模型，以及（2）牙槽骨缺损并通过手术诱发的PPA的猪颚模型PPA充满了可控然后使用体积吸移法测定一定量的不透射线微粒填料，然后使用方法间和方法内一致性测试将CBCT图像获得的PPA深度和体积与由蒙面检查员使用校准的手动方法获得的值进行比较。

结果

当将模拟手册数据与不透射线填充剂启用的数字CBCT测量值进行比较时，获得了重要的方法间一致性（0.938–0.991）和方法内一致性（0.94–0.99）。

意义

使用不透射线的微粒填充剂进行的CBCT成像是可视化和数字化评估PP的深度，体积和3-D形状的一种可行方法，这种方法可以改变牙周疾病的诊断和治疗计划，特别是在复杂病例中特别有用。以确定这些填充剂的临床实用性目前正在进行中。