Introduction: Maxillofacial bone defects occur as a result of various causes as infections, tumor and cysts or natural loss of bone after extraction of teeth. There are a lot of disputation among dental practitioners in the material that should be utilized to fill up bone deficiencies in order to increase bone volume and improve implant placement. Because autogenous bone has osteogenic, osteoinductive, and osteoconductive properties, it is considered the gold standard for bone reconstruction.
Purpose:The aim of this study was preoperative CBCT assessment of maxillary tuberosity as an intraoral donor site for purpose of autogenous block graft.Materials and methods: 20 volunteers were included in the study, and each one signed an informed consent form. Participants were chosen based on predetermined eligibility criteria. CBCT images were interpreted using Planmeca Romexis software version 6.4 by one of oral and maxillofacial radiologist of more than 10 years' experience. Linear and volumetric measurements of maxillary tuberosities using segmentation (manual and semiautomatic segmentation) were done.
Results:Results showed the difference between real and segmented volumes to be statistically significant with real volume being significantly higher than manual and semi-automatic segmentation (p<0.001). However, the difference in measurements' error was not statistically significant (p=0.102).Method reliability analysis showed that there was a moderate agreement between semiautomatic and manual segmentation that was statistically significant (ICC=0.693, p<0.001) and there was a strong agreement between both observations that was statistically significant (ICC>0.9, p<0.001).
Conclusion:CBCT is a valuable tool to assess the linear and volumetric measurements of the block grafts for maxillary tuberosity as an intraoral donor site. According to this study maxillary tuberosity could be a suitable source of autogenous bone graft for the treatment of small and limited defects of the alveolar process.