Evaluation of metal artefact reduction in cone-beam computed tomography images of different dental materials

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of metal artefact reduction (MAR) in different dental materials with Picasso Trio cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanner.

Materials and methods

Three imaging phantoms were custom-made of acrylic resin. Each phantom presented three cylinders of the same material: dental amalgam alloy, gutta-percha or aluminium-copper alloy. CBCT scans were performed on Picasso Trio unit with and without MAR, and artefact expression (standard deviation of grey values) was obtained and compared by Kruskal-Wallis and Student-Newman-Keuls (post hoc) (α = 0.05).

Results

Significant reduction of artefact expression (p < 0.05) was observed with MAR on areas around dental alloys. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed with or without MAR when gutta-percha was scanned.

Conclusion

MAR was effective in reducing artefacts arising from dental alloys on CBCT images.

Clinical relevance

Dental materials of high atomic number and density are widely used in dentistry and can produce artefact that compromise CBCT image. The present study demonstrated that metal artefact reduction algorithm is an effective tool to improve image quality.

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