Methodology for Morphometric Analysis of Modern Human Contralateral Premolars.

Area of Science:

• Dental Anatomy
• Biomaterials Science
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Accurate comparison of contralateral human premolar pulp spaces is essential for reliable ex vivo testing of endodontic materials and techniques.
• Existing methodologies lack standardization for assessing the complex internal morphology of teeth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a standard methodology for morphometric analysis and comparison of contralateral human premolar pulp spaces using micro-CT and semiautomated software.
• To establish a method for comparing minute morphological internal volumes and determining similarity.
• To introduce a new methodology for selecting contralateral premolars for biomaterial and technique studies.

Main Methods:

• Microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) scanning of 41 human premolar pairs (n=82).
• Semiautomated software used for geometric morphometric deviation analysis, including mirroring, automatic alignment, and coregistration.
• Comparison of geometric parameters (volume, surface, surface over volume) and shape deviation analysis.

Main Results:

• Contralateral premolar pulp spaces exhibited significantly higher similarity coefficients than random pairs (P < 0.001).
• Shape deviation analysis showed significantly lower values and narrower distribution for contralateral pairs compared to random pairs (P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• A new standard methodology for internal validation of teeth in ex vivo endodontic studies is presented.
• High similarity between contralateral premolar pulp spaces was confirmed using micro-CT.
• The resolution of CT scans is critical; cone beam CT is insufficient for this type of analysis.