Comparison between the use of magnetic resonance imaging and conebeam computed tomography for mandibular nerve...

Conebeam computed tomography (CBCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been used to identify the mandibular nerve but a comparison of the reliabilities of the two imaging modalities has not been performed. It was hypothesized that the reliabilities were not different between the two.

Twelve dental postgraduates in five disciplines were recruited to assess two sets of reformatted oblique images (CBCT and MRI) of 11 patients who were scanned before wisdom teeth extraction. The variance of the identified locations of mandibular nerve, the mental foramen and the mandibular foramen between two sets of images of each patient was compared. Each set of images was rated by assessors to reveal the satisfaction in determining the structures.

It was found that by using MRI images, significantly lesser variances and significantly higher satisfactory scores were given by the assessors than by using CBCT images in the identification of the structures.

We concluded that MRI is a promising imaging modality that can be used to identify the mandibular nerve when it cannot be found in CBCT images.