Imaging Sci Dent.  2014 Jun;44(2):129-135. 10.5624/isd.2014.44.2.129.

Assessment of trabecular bone changes around endosseous implants using image analysis techniques: A preliminary study

• El Zuki M
• Omami G
• Horner K

• KMID: 1799594
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5624/isd.2014.44.2.129

Abstract

PURPOSE
The objective of this study was to assess the trabecular bone changes that occurred around functional endosseous dental implants by means of radiographic image analysis techniques.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Immediate preoperative and postoperative periapical radiographs of de-identified implant patients at the University Dental Hospital of Manchester were retrieved, screened for specific inclusion criteria, digitized, and quantified for structural elements of the trabecular bone around the endosseous implants, by using image analysis techniques. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. P values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
RESULTS
A total of 12 implants from 11 patients were selected for the study, and 26 regions of interest were obtained. There was a significant increase in the bone area in terms of the mean distance between nodes (p=0.006) and a significant decrease in the marrow area in terms of the bone area (p=0.006) and the length of marrow spaces (p=0.032).
CONCLUSION
It appeared that the bone around the implant underwent remodeling that resulted in a net increase in bone after implant placement.

Keyword

Dental Implants; Bone and Bones; Computer-Assisted Image Analysis

MeSH Terms

Bone and Bones
Bone Marrow
Dental Implants
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Dental Implants

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Digitization, selection, and cropping of the images. (a) A periapical radiograph is digitized by a scanner using an 8-bit gray scale and a resolution of 1200 dpi. (b) A magnified region of interest (ROI) of 150×150 pixels in the tagged image file (TIF) format below the root apex is cropped by Adobe Photoshop Elements version 3. (c) A magnified ROI of 150×75 pixels in the TIF at the mesial aspect of the root apex. (d) A magnified ROI of 150×75 pixels in the TIF format at the distal aspect of the root apex.

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  Fig. 2 The images are the procedures for image digitization, optimization, and analysis (marrow).

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  Fig. 3 Inverted image is analyzed (trabecular) using Win TAS for the images shown in Fig. 2.

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