Ten Years of Micro-CT in Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery: A Literature Overview

Cone-beam computed tomography evaluation of shaping ability of kedo-S square and fanta AF™ baby rotary files compared to manual K-files in root canal preparation of primary anterior teeth

BACKGROUND

Pediatric rotary file systems were developed to solve manual file limitations. With many systems available, it may be tricky to select the most appropriate one.

AIM

to assess & compare Kedo-S Square, Fanta-AF™-Baby rotary files with manual K-file concerning removed dentin amount, canal transportation, centric ability & root canal taper using CBCT in primary anterior teeth.

DESIGN

Extracted Seventy-five upper primary anterior teeth with intact 2/3 root length were collected and divided into three groups based on root canal instrumentation, group-I: prepared using K-file, group-II: prepared using Kedo-S Square, and group-III: prepared using Fanta AF™ Baby file. The teeth were imaged with CBCT before & following canal instrumentation. Then, the removed dentin amount was calculated at each root-canal level. The Kruskal-Wallis test was utilized to statistically analyze study data.

RESULT

The difference among the three groups was highly statistically significant at cervical & apical thirds concerning dentin thickness changes on both mesial & distal sides following canal preparation with the least removed dentin in the Kedo-S Square group(P < 0.0001). Regarding transportation & centering ability, a non-significant difference between the three groups was found. 80% of the Fanta AF™ Baby group had good-tapered preparation compared to the Kedo-S Square (72%) and K-file (40%) groups(P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Kedo-S Square was preferable to Fanta-AFTM-Baby & manual K-files in primary root canal preparation.

Combining High-Resolution Hard X-ray Tomography and Histology for Stem Cell-Mediated Distraction Osteogenesis

Distraction osteogenesis is a clinically established technique for lengthening, molding and shaping bone by new bone formation. The experimental evaluation of this expensive and time-consuming treatment is of high impact for better understanding of tissue engineering but mainly relies on a limited number of histological slices. These tissue slices contain two-dimensional information comprising only about one percent of the volume of interest. In order to analyze the soft and hard tissues of the entire jaw of a single rat in a multimodal assessment, we combined micro computed tomography (µCT) with histology. The µCT data acquired before and after decalcification were registered to determine the impact of decalcification on local tissue shrinkage. Identification of the location of the H&E-stained specimen within the synchrotron radiation-based µCT data collected after decalcification was achieved via non-rigid slice-to-volume registration. The resulting bi- and tri-variate histograms were divided into clusters related to anatomical features from bone and soft tissues, which allowed for a comparison of the approaches and resulted in the hypothesis that the combination of laboratory-based µCT before decalcification, synchrotron radiation-based µCT after decalcification and histology with hematoxylin-and-eosin staining could be used to discriminate between different types of collagen, key components of new bone formation.

Micro-computed tomography in preventive and restorative dental research: A review

Purpose

The use of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scans in biomedical and dental research is growing rapidly. This study aimed to explore the scientific literature on approaches and applications of micro-CT in restorative dentistry.

Materials and Methods

An electronic search of publications from January 2009 to March 2021 was conducted using ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The search included only English-language articles. Therefore, only studies that addressed recent advances and the potential uses of micro-CT in restorative and preventive dentistry were selected.

Results

Micro-CT is a tool that enables 3-dimensional imaging on a small scale with very high resolution. In this method, there is no need for sample preparation or slicing. Therefore, it is possible to examine the internal structure of tissue and the internal adaptation of materials to surfaces without destroying them. Due to these advantages, micro-CT has been recommended as a standard imaging tool in dental research for many applications such as tissue engineering, endodontics, restorative dentistry, and research on the mineral density of hard tissues and bone growth. However, the high costs of micro-CT, the time necessary for scanning and reconstruction, computer expertise requirements, and the enormous volume of information are drawbacks.

Conclusion

The potential of micro-CT as an emerging, accurate, non-destructive approach is clear, and the valuable research findings reported in the literature provide an impetus for researchers to perform future studies focusing on employing this method in dental research.