Computed tomography

Although CT scanning has been available for less than 20 years, it has made a major impact on the practice of dentistry, particularly in oral and maxillofacial surgery, in the diagnosis and management of a wide variety of oral lesions. The use of computers to reconstruct x-ray attenuation data into an image allows the clinician to view pathology from many different perspectives, unobstructed by other anatomic structures, and to adjust contrast to concentrate on the soft-tissue and hard-tissue pathology in turn. Advances in computer software already allow three-dimensional visualization of pathology and anatomy, but additional refinements in this technology still are expected.