Dental implants and dental CT software programs.

Dental implants are titanium cylinders that are surgically implanted into the jaw to allow fixation of a permanent dental prosthesis. These have provided an attractive alternative to standard removable dentures and have become quite popular. To assess these patients preoperatively, CT software programs were developed that display multiple axial, cross-sectional, and panoramic images of the jaw. As a result, new dialogues and interactions were created between radiologists and dentists, and this in turn brought new territories and unfamiliar diseases to the radiologists' view. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the radiologist with dental implants, the surgical procedure, dental CT software programs, and related dental pathology.