New developments in tools for periodontal diagnosis

Abstract

For the clinician, the planning of therapy is probably the most critical and difficult step in the treatment of patients with periodontal disease. A new paradigm for periodontal diagnosis will certainly increase understanding of periodontal diseases, which may eventually optimise the predictability of treatment and improve the clinical management of patients with periodontal disease.

Use of cone beam computed tomography in periodontology

“…CBCT is a more appropriate tool for evaluating mineralized tissues than soft tissues [12] . However, a practical method named soft tissue CBCT (ST-CBCT), was reported [29] , and it was utilized to determine the dimensions and relationships of the structures of the dentogingival unit.…”

“…CBCT is not able to offer high contrast resolution and it can not utilized soft tissues, therefore; CBCT is mainly indicated for the evaluation of hard tissues in the dentomaxillofacial complex [11,12] . When compared to 2D imaging, CBCT has higher cost and effective radiation dose but it has lower resolution and lack of availability [13,16,17] ( Table 2).…”

“…A single rotation is sufficient during irradiation of the patient for acquisition of base projection images and CBCT scanners use two-dimensional flat-panel detectors which provide a scan of the entire region of interest [11,12] . The collimation of the X-ray beam to the area of interest minimizes the radiation dose.…”

“…Most CBCT units offer different field of view (FOV) options with various sizes (Figure 3). The use of small FOV lowers the effective radiation dose [8][9][10][11][12][13] . The voxels in CBCT units are isotropic that enables sub-millimeter geometric resolution, thereby; a high degree of measurement accuracy can be obtained (Figure 4).…”

Evaluation of Periodontal Tissues Using 40MHz Ultrasonography. Preliminary report

“…Periodontal changes can be assessed more accurately using new imaging techniques like: cone-beam computed tomography; optical coherence tomography; optical spectroscopy and ultrasonography [3][4][5].…”