Invitro comparision of 3D cone beamed dental tomography with intraoral radyografhy in detection of dental root fractures

Aim: The precise diagnosis of dental root fractures in clinical practice is quite difficult. The aim of this study is to compare the results of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and intraoral radiography images in the diagnosis of dental root fractures. Material and Method: 50 maxillar central teeth with healthy roots were shot in a single blow in laboratory environment. Cracks were formed for 10 and fractures were forned for 40 teeth roots. Parts of root fractures were sticked together by forming root fractures in five groups as crack, fracture without gap and fracture with 0,2 mm, 0,4 mm and 0,6 mm gaps. Images of all teeth were taken with CBCT and intraoral radiography. Accurate diagnosis averages, positive predictive value test and Fleiss kappa test values were calculated through the data taken from the evaluation results of 30 dentists. Results: The results obtained from 30 dentists evaluation showed that images taken by the CBCT are better than images taken by the periapical radiography for the diagnosis of root fractures and cracks. The results also showed that the quality of the images increased as the voxel of the CBCT images decreased. The results of this study are obtained by calculating precise diagnosis mean, positive predictive value test and Fleiss Kappa test. Conclusion: It is shown that images taken by the CBCT provides better and clearer than the images taken by the traditional intraoral radiography in order to diagnose root fractures and cracks. The overall accuracy of CBCT was higher than intraoral radiography in diagnosing dental root fractures. Based on the results obtained, it is recommended that CBCT with 0,3 can be a better option for the dental practices. According to the results of this study and regarding the application time and dose of the radiation exposed and the quality of the images, scanned images taken by CBCT with 0,3 voxel provides images with sufficient quality in dentistry in order to diagnose root fractures and cracks.