Evaluation of buccal bone coverage in the anterior region by cone-beam computed tomography.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to compare the sensitivity of diagnoses of buccal bone coverage in anterior teeth between axial and sagittal reconstructions using cone-beam computed tomography. METHODS: Five dry skulls were clinically evaluated to detect bone defects in the anterior maxilla and mandible to establish a gold standard. The skulls were prepared and placed on a Kodak 9000 3-dimensional scanner (Trophy, Marne La Vallee, France) for image acquisition. The images were processed and reconstructed using Kodak Dental Imaging software 3-dimensional module (version 2.4; Kodak Dental Systems, Atlanta, Ga). All bone defects were identified and recorded. RESULTS: In the sagittal and axial reconstructions, regions without bone coverage were diagnosed in 91.03% of cases as "cortex not seen" or "minimum thickness, fine, without marrow bone." CONCLUSIONS: Cone-beam computed tomography can help in the diagnosis of lack of bone coverage on the buccal surfaces of anterior teeth. There was no difference in the performance of the axial and sagittal reconstructions.