Dental CT in the planning of surgery. Role in the oromaxillofacial area from the dentist's point of view

Dental computer assisted tomography (Dental CT) represents a valuable addit ion to the diagnostic spectrum for planning oral and maxillofacial surgery. High resolution CT a nd specially designed computer software allow represe ntation of the jaws in different planes that are easy to match. They furthe r allow the display of very small structures relevant to oral surgical inte rventions and reveal their spatial relationship in three dimensions. Thus c ommunication between dentists and radiologists may be intensified and suppo rted by usage of modern telecommunication systems. Dental CT is indicated, when clinical and conventional radiological techniques will not allow exact interpretation of the situation. It is modern oral implantology that prima rily benefits from computer software enabling the assessment of surgical si tes in the presurgical phase. Such planning was not yet possible using two dimensional radiographic techniques. The dental-implantological part expect s from radiography sharply defined contours of the external bony contours a nd the mandibular canal, exactly defined relation between slices and planes , no distortion in the orthoradial planes, tools for reliable measurements of distances, angles and volumes, possibility to transmit pictures electron ically or on hardcopy without loss of quality.