PURPOSE

To evaluate whether the measurement accuracy of dental CT images is affected by the mandibular positioning and the pitch factor at CT scanning.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Three dry mandibles were scanned by 64-slice multidetector row CT (MDCT) and micro-CT. For MDCT scanning, 7 different mandibular positioning and 3 different pitch factors were applied. After reformatting dental CT images, the bone height was measured on these images. It was also measured on the corresponding micro-CT image, which was defined as the actual value. The difference of the measurement values between these 2 was defined as the measurement error.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in the measurement errors due to either the mandibular positioning or the pitch factor.

CONCLUSION

The measurement accuracy of dental CT images obtained was not affected by either mandibular positioning or pitch factor at CT scanning.