Assessment of the Influence of Different Intracanal Materials on the Detection of Root Fracture in Birooted Teeth by Cone-beam Computed Tomography.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to assess 2 cone-beam computed tomographic systems on the detection of artificially induced vertical root fractures (VRFs) and artifact intensity using birooted teeth restored with different intracanal materials. METHODS: The sample consisted of 20 extracted birooted premolars. Root fracture was induced in half of the sample. Seven intracanal material combinations were used in each tooth, 1 at a time: unrestored, gutta-percha, a buccal root with gutta-percha and a lingual root with a fiberglass post, a buccal root with gutta-percha and a lingual root with a metal core fiberglass post, fiberglass posts, metal core fiberglass posts, and NiCr posts. Cone-beam computed tomographic scans were acquired using CS 9000 3D (Carestream Dental Rochester, NY) and OP300 (Instrumentarium Dental Inc, Tuusula, Finland) units. Exposure parameters were fixed at 90 kV and 8 mA. The voxel size and field of view were set at 0.085 mm and 5 × 5 cm for OP300 and 0.076 mm and 5 × 3.75 cm for CS 9000, respectively. Two observers assessed all images using a 5-point confidence scale for VRF detection and a 4-point score for artifact interference. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were compared using 2-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test (α = 0.05). Artifact interference was evaluated by descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. RESULTS: There were significant differences between scanners (P > .05) and among the different intracanal material groups (OP300) (P < .05) for specificity. When a metal post was present in both roots, severe artifact interference was observed in all images. CONCLUSIONS: CS 9000 3D presented better performance than OP300 on VRF detection of endodontically treated teeth. Unrestored teeth and teeth filled with fiberglass posts were considered the groups with the lowest artifact interference and the highest VRF detection results.

Assessment of Cone-beam Computed Tomographic Artifacts from Different Intracanal Materials on Birooted Teeth.

INTRODUCTION: This study quantitatively evaluated the type and amount of image artifacts generated by different intracanal materials in birooted teeth scanned at different exposure parameters. METHODS: The sample consisted of 15 birooted premolars. Seven different intracanal material combinations were used in each tooth one at a time: (1) roots without intracanal materials, (2) roots with gutta-percha, (3) a buccal root with gutta-percha and a lingual root with a fiberglass post, (4) a buccal root with gutta-percha and a lingual root with a metal core fiberglass post, (5) buccal and lingual roots with fiberglass posts, (6) buccal and lingual roots with metal core fiberglass posts, and (7) buccal and lingual roots with NiCr metal posts. Cone-beam computed tomographic scans were acquired using a CS 9000 unit (Carestream Dental, Atlanta, GA). An image of each tooth was captured under 5 exposure parameters: 2.5, 4, 6.3, 8, and 12 mA. The voxel size, field of view, and tube voltage were fixed at 0.076 mm, 5 × 3.75 cm, and 75 kV. We assessed each artifact quantitatively using ImageJ's threshold tool (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD) to determine the hypodense and hyperdense artifact areas within 8-bit images extracted from the scans. All analyses were conducted with a 95% confidence level (α <0.05). RESULTS: The inferential analysis showed that roots filled with metal posts presented the highest amount of hypodense and hyperdense artifacts, whereas fiberglass post in both roots presented fewer artifacts. All materials presented more hypodense than hyperdense artifact formation. Overall, the low-exposure settings presented fewer artifacts and higher values of preserved dental images. CONCLUSIONS: Low-exposure protocols and fiberglass posts presented fewer image artifacts in CBCT scans.