The use of Cone Beam CT Imaging in Dentistry.

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New imaging technologies advance in dentistry are becoming increasingly popular for diagnosis and treatment assessment. 3D computed tomography (CT) which is cross-sectional modality, inherently avoids the superimposition and problems due to magnification and offers to visualize of the craniofacial structures with more precision than the 2D method . In dentistry, in order to obtain images at first, medical CT (MDCT) was used for this purpose. Studies on MDCT showed that 3D CT analysis can be performed accurate and reliable assessments for dental procedures. Despite these advantages, the effective dose of MDCT is much higher than the conventional radiographs which are using dental and maxillofacial imaging. This renders its use for routine examinations (especially those for cephalometric analysis and growth assessments) unjustifiable. Besides, MDCT is also expensive procedure and scanners are not easily accessible by dentists and small clinics for maxillofacial imaging.