RADIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF MANDIBULAR POSTERIOR IMPLANT SITES - CORRELATION BETWEEN PANORAMIC AND TOMOGRAPHIC DETERMINATIONS

The purpose of the present study was to compare bone height determinat ions of implant sites by different radiographic techniques. Available bone height was measured in regions posterior to the mental foramen on panoramic radiographs, and on tomographs where the faciolingual dimen sion was at least 5 mm. The bone heights were recorded at 401 edentulo us and dentate sites in 100 patients. The overall mean bone height (m/-SD) was 11.25+/-3.29 mm on panoramic radiographs and 8.81+/-3.38 mm on tomographs. The correlation between the two radiographic techniques ranged from 0.36 to 0.91 if the material was stratified according to factors such as height of available bone, age, gender and the presence of teeth. Gender was significantly correlated to panoramic and tomogr aphic measurements in all regions. However, the precision of predicted tomographic measurements by using a linear regression model was not s ignificantly increased by including gender as an explanatory variable. For evaluation of available bone height in mandibular regions posteri or to the mental foramen, tomography is recommended for all prospectiv e implant sites.