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Updated: Aug 28, 2025
Author Spotlight: Comparing Alveolar and Long Bone Remodeling to Explore OTM Model Potential
Published on: July 21, 2023
Alveolar bone measurements in magnetic resonance imaging compared with cone beam computed tomography: a pilot,
João Marcus de Carvalho E Silva Fuglsig1, Brian Hansen2, Lars Schropp1
1Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, Section for Oral Radiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Objectives:
To compare alveolar bone height and width measurements from zero-echo-time MRI (ZTE-MRI) and cone beam CT (CBCT), in human specimens.
Material And Methods:
Twenty posterior edentulous sites in human cadaver specimens were imaged with CBCT and ZTE-MRI. Bone height and width at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 mm from the top of the alveolar ridge was measured by two trained observers in cross-sections of a site where an implant was to be planned. Twenty percent of the sample was measured in duplicate to assess method error and intra-observer reproducibility (ICC). The differences between CBCT and ZTE-MRI measurements were compared (t-test).
Results:
Inter- and intra-observer reproducibility was >0.90. The method error (average between observers) for bone height was 0.45 mm and 0.39 mm, and for bone width (average) was 0.52 mm and 0.80 mm (CBCT and ZTE-MRI, respectively). The majority of the bone measurement differences were statistically insignificant, except bone width measurements at 5 mm (p ≤ .05 for both observers). Mean measurement differences were not larger than the method error.
Conclusion:
ZTE-MRI is not significantly different from CBCT when comparing measurements of alveolar bone height and width.
