Techniques of analysing residual alveolar ridge width before dental implant placement: A comparative clinico-imaging study

TL;DR

This study compares different methods to measure jawbone width before dental implants, finding that one method is most accurate.

Contribution

The study demonstrates CBCT's high accuracy and reliability compared to OPG and direct measurements for alveolar ridge width assessment.

Findings

CBCT measurements closely matched direct caliper measurements with no significant difference.

OPG significantly overestimated alveolar ridge width compared to direct measurements.

CBCT showed ±0.5 mm accuracy in 94% of cases, supporting its use as the gold standard.

Abstract

Accurate assessment of alveolar ridge width is critical for implant planning. Therefore, it is of interest to compare measurements
from orthopantomography (OPG) and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) with direct intraoperative caliper evaluation in 50 posterior
mandibular sites. CBCT values (6.15 ± 1.14 mm) closely matched direct measurements (6.18 ± 1.12 mm) with no significant
difference (p=0.68). OPG significantly overestimated ridge width (7.64 ± 1.55 mm; p<0.001). CBCT demonstrated high reliability
within ±0.5 mm accuracy in 94% of cases, supporting its role as the gold standard for pre-surgical width analysis in implant
dentistry.