The effect of mandibular position on measurement in spiral tomography

나선형 단층방사선사진촬영에서 하악골 위치가 측정치에 미치는 영향

Purpose : To evaluate the effect of deviation of mandibular positioning, by changing the mandibular plane inclination, on the measured height and width of mandible in spiral conventional tomography. Materials and Methods : By means of the Scanora multifunctional unit, cross-sectional tomograms were taken from two human dried mandibles at the mandibular angulations: -15 degree, -10 degree, -5 degree, and 0 degree. Twenty-eight sites in two dried mandibles were imaged. One examiner measured the bone heights and widths at selected sites on the images and the actual bone heights were recorded. Results : The bone heights at the four mandibular inclinations overestimated real bone heights and the mean difference between actual heights and image heights on 0 degrees was the smallest (P<0.01). The bone widths on -15 degrees were narrowest and there were significant differences between bone widths measured at the four mandibular inclinations (P<0.001). We found statistically significant differences between both bone heights and widths as measured according to the mandibular plane angle for the posterior region (P<0.01). Conclusion : The use of different mandibular positioning may result in discrepancies in heights and widths when measured from the cross-sectional tomographic images. It is suggested that the mandibular positioning may play a significant role in the measurement of mandibular heights and widths.