PANORAMIC AND TOMOGRAPHIC DIMENSIONAL DETERMINATIONS FOR MAXILLARY OSSEOINTEGRATED IMPLANTS - COMPARISON OF THE MORPHOLOGIC INFORMATION POTENTIAL OF 2-DIMENSIONAL AND 3-DIMENSIONAL RADIOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS

Accurate information on available bone volume is of decisive importanc e in dental implantology. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the correlation between maxillary alveolar bone height mea sured on panoramic radiographs and on tomographic radiopraphs with a f acio-lingual dimension of at least 5 mm. The alveolar bone height was recorded in 683 edentulous and dentate regions in 100 patients. The me an bone height (m+/-SD) in panoramic radiography for all regions was 1 1.90+/-3.60 mm and in tomography 8.20+/-4.33 mm. The differences in bo ne height recorded by the two techniques were greater in edentulous re gions than in dentate regions, and the differences increased in region s where the available bone height was small. For preimplant assessment of available bone height in the maxilla, tomography is recommended fo r all regions intended for implants.