Comparison of linear and angular measurements in mandibular symphyseal region using lateral cephalometric and cone beam CT images

Aim To compare the linear and angular measurements of the mandibular symphyseal region using lateral cephalometric (LC) and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images.Materials and Methods One hundred patients justifying both LC and CBCT exposures were included. Both lateral cephalometric and CBCT images of the patients were used for angular and linear measurements. Angular measurements included vestibular concavity and lingual and tooth inclination angles. Vestibular and lingual cortical bone and total bone thickness measurements were obtained for the comparison of linear measurements. Three radiologists performed the measurements on 200 images. Comparison of the measurements and the imaging methods were done using paired- and Wilcoxon t-tests. Inter-observer reliability was evaluated with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).Results A significant difference was observed between measurements of two imaging methods for tooth inclination and vestibular concavity angles; however, no difference was found between LC and CBCT measurements for lingual inclination angle (p > 0.05). Vestibular cortical bone and total bone thickness measurements showed a significant difference (p < 0.05), whereas no difference was obtained in lingual bone thickness measurements of two imaging methods (p > 0.05).Conclusion CBCT imaging is recommended in selected patients where recipient bone or bone augmentation site(s) reveal suspect in clinical examination and lateral cephalometric imaging may not reveal the true anatomic structure and relationships.