State of the Art of Micro‐CT Applications in Dental Research

Abstract

This review highlights the recent advances in X-ray microcomputed tomography (Micro-CT) applied in dental research. It summarizes Micro-CT applications in measurement of enamel thickness, root canal morphology, evaluation of root canal preparation, craniofacial skeletal structure, micro finite element modeling, dental tissue engineering, mineral density of dental hard tissues and about dental implants. Details of studies in each of these areas are highlighted along with the advantages of Micro-CT, and finally a summary of the future applications of Micro-CT in dental research is given.

Micro-computed tomographic analysis of progression of artificial enamel lesions in primary and permanent teeth after resin infiltration

“…However, these methods require time and are destructive. In contrast, μCT measures the mineral density of hard tissues such as bones and teeth, has a resolution of 5-30 µm, and is more accurate than other methods (12,14). Because the thickness of the sample used for μCT depends on the size of the X-ray beam, slices of the sample examined can be thinner and more regular than samples prepared by physical cutting (10).…”

“…To our knowledge, this is the first report to use μCT to evaluate progression of artificially induced initial caries lesions. There are several methods of measuring mineral concentrations and densities of hard dental tissues, including chemical analyses of microsamples, contact microradiography, and transversal microradiography (12). However, these methods require time and are destructive.…”

“…μCT allows the use of the same specimens for several biological and mechanical tests (11,12). Additionally, μCT facilitates evaluation of the quantity and quality of dental tissues, depth of caries lesions (13)(14)(15), and mineral loss in initial enamel caries lesions (11,16).…”

Quantitative analysis of mechanically retentive ceramic bracket base surfaces with a three-dimensional imaging system

“…20-24 A micro-CT system using microfocal spot X-ray sources and high-resolution detectors allows projections to be rotated through multiple viewing directions to produce 3D reconstructed images of samples. 23 With the micro-CT, we obtained 3D reconstructed images of each bracket and evaluated the 3D bracket base surface areas.…”

Diş hekimliği araştırmalarında mikrobilgisayarlı tomografi uygulamaları

“…Bu yüzden bu kanalların anatomik varyasyonu ve morfolojik yapısının aydınlığa kavuşması gereklidir. 17 C-şekilli kanalları araş-tırmak için mikrotomografi sistemlerini kullanan çeşitli çalışmalar mevcuttur.…”