Accuracy of three-dimensional finite element modeling using two different dental cone beam computed tomography systems.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of dental ceramic object three dimensional (3D) finite element model constructed directly from two different dental cone beam computed tomography (CT) systems. CT scanned one 10.0 × 10.0 × 20.0 mm block and one 8.0 × 10.0 × 40.0 mm block of an 8-step wedge. All 3D finite element (FE) models were created from CT images. Each 3D FE model measured the length of the directions X, Y, and Z that corresponded to an original specimen using the measurement function between two points on the Mechanical Finder software package. The measurements and practical value were compared with the CT image and the accuracy of the reproduced measurements was examined. No significant differences were found between Alphard-3030 on the Z axis and ProMax 3D on the Y axis of the block. In addition, there were also no significant differences observed between Alphard-3030 on the Y axis and ProMax 3D on the X axis compared with Alphard-3030 on the Z axis and ProMax 3D on the Y axis for the step-wedge. The results suggest that measurement of the dimensions of cone beam CT images could be useful in applications where both good reproducibility and accuracy of FE models are required.