Lingual mandibular bony defects: CT in the buccolingual plane.

OBJECTIVE

Our goal was to record the appearance of lingular mandibular bony defects (LMBD) on CT imaging of the mandible in the buccolingual plane.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

During the CT evaluation of patients planning to undergo dental implant surgery, five cases of LMBD were found. Axial 1.2 x 1.00 mm overlapping CT sections of the mandible and the maxilla were obtained. Then with use of specific software (DentaCT; Elscint), panoramic and cross-sectional (buccolingual) images of the mandible and maxilla were reformatted.

RESULTS

Five cases of posterior LMBD were identified; one patient had both a posterior as well as the much rarer anterior LMBD. All cases were incidental findings and all were asymptomatic. CT features of LMBD were displayed in axial, panoramic, and buccolingual planes. The characteristic opening of the bony defect in the lingual aspect of the mandible was clearly displayed on the axial as well as the buccolingual images; however, this key feature was not manifest on the panoramic images of the mandible.

CONCLUSION

CT features of LMBD in the buccolingual plane are added to the known radiologic description of this entity.