X-RAY MICROTOMOGRAPHY TO CHARACTERIZE THE ROOT CANAL VOLUME EXTRACTED IN ENDODONTIC INSTRUMENTATION

During the last decades, the analytical techniques of X-ray absorption contrast imaging have systematically gained greater relevance, mainly due to the ability to attain non-destructive exploration of the sample interior. The significant improvement in spatial resolution offered by X-ray micro-tomography, as compared to conventional computed tomography, has motivated its insertion in many biomedical fields, among which dentistry stands out. Particularly, for endodontics, microCT appears as a method of remarkable potential interest to study procedures involved in root canal treatments, where one of the main needs is the anatomical characterization of the root canal in the teeth. The present work reports on the adaptation of the microCT equipment of the LIIFAMIRx⃝laboratory at the E. Gaviola Physics Institute, CONICET and UNC, thus allowing to acquire of radiographic images of dental samples of interest, to be later used in the implementation of algorithms, intended to tomographic reconstruction and volume segmentation. As a result, radiographic images of premolar teeth were obtained with good contrast between the different materials present, and three-dimensional representations, whose visualization is comparable with the real samples. Moreover, it was possible to characterize the root canal volume of the tooth both in its natural form and after having undergone the instrumentation process in which the pulp tissue is extracted.