[Cone Beam computerized tomography and implants]

The authors, both working as radiologist in private practice, have initiated the Cone Beam technique as soon as 1999 and report their own experience. Cone Beam Computerized Tomography (CBCT) is dedicated to hard tissues imaging thus specifically adapted to oral implantology and maxillofacial surgery. It has the advantage to deliver low dose radiation, compared to other techniques. CBCT permits anatomical volume acquisition. After data analysis on computer, distances and implants 3D simulation can be checked. CBCT differs from CT scan because it is more adapted to hard tissues, it has a better resolution than CT, and because it delivers lower doses. Its isotropic pixel particularity which gives exact linear measurements, and the fact that metallic artifacts are significatively diminished, gives CBCT its high interest in implantology. These advantages of CBCT and the small place needed for its installation explain its global wide spreading. CBCT is now considered to be the gold standard in dental and maxillofacial sectional imaging. Because of its biomeasuring capacity, its bi- and tridimensional reconstruction possibilities, its surgical navigation and simulation capacity, it is now widely used in implantology.