Ultrasonography for noninvasive and real-time evaluation of peri-implant tissue dimensions.

AIM: Existing methods for evaluating marginal bone loss and tissue biotype around dental implants present with many limitations. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of high-resolution, 3-dimensional ultrasound to measure peri-implant tissue dimensions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A 25-MHz ultrasound probe prototype was used to scan peri-implant tissues of 17 implants from seven fresh human cadavers. Four ultrasonic measurements were made as follows: the marginal bone level/thickness, and mucosal level/thickness. The readings were statistically compared to cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and/or open bone measurements. RESULTS: The correlations (r) between the ultrasound and direct/CBCT readings of the four parameters ranged from 0.85 to 0.98 (p < 0.0001). The mean absolute difference in the four parameters between ultrasound-direct and ultrasound-CBCT ranged from 0.033 to 0.24 mm. CONCLUSION: Encouraging evidence is shown that ultrasound can accurately measure peri-implant tissue dimensions. Following clinical trial validations, ultrasound offers potential as a valuable tool to evaluate long-term peri-implant tissue stability without concerns of ionizing radiation and image artefacts around implants.