Novel Approach to Assess Periodontal Disease Severity Using Volumetric Analysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate if the absolute change in linear measurements of bone loss on the facial plane of a maxillary central incisor at full and half root length along the vertical axis is directly proportional to volumetric change. The secondary aim was to evaluate if the variation of root volume is influenced by difference in root morphology. Three dimensional digital models of 70 random patients were obtained from DICOM CBCT files using volumetric software, InVivoDental (Anatomage, San Jose, CA). One central incisor of average root length was selected per patient and total length (L1) and the apical half of the root (L2) were measured. Corresponding volumes were obtained for the total length of tooth root (V1) and the apical of the root (V2). The absolute change in root volume was compared with the corresponding length of root to determine a direct correlation. The sample was then divided into two groups (Thick and Thin) based on the median value of root width (W1) at half the root length and the correlation between root morphology and the percent change in root volume was compared. The change in linear measurements along the facial plane of a maxillary central incisor was not directly related to corresponding volumetric changes. In fact, for th