Indicazione clinica all’esecuzione degli esami radiografici in implantologia

Objectives

Analyze the guidelines reported in the literature for the use of pre-operative radiologic exams in dental implantology.

Materials and methods

Articles regarding the radiologic surveys used in the evaluation of patients with prosthetic implants, published in Medline^® and/or Embase^® after 2000, were selected for analysis. Articles which considered only the accuracy and/or the radiation dose related to the use of these diagnostic methodologies (Endo-oral X-ray, orthopantomography, cross-sectional imaging) were not considered. Only the articles that evaluated, in addition to the accuracy and the radiation dose related to the radiologic examination, also their indication of use were included. A textbook reporting the inclusion criteria was also included.

Results

The searches with the keywords “CT dental implants”, “CT dental implant orthopantomography”, “dental implant radiography guidelines” and “dental implant radiology guidelines” yield 853, 106, 27 and 29 results, respectively. According to the inclusion criteria 17 articles were selected for further analysis.

Conclusions

No precise guidelines on the selection and evaluation of pre-operative radiologic exams to use in implantology were found. While some authors reserve the use of cross-sectional imaging to selected cases, others advice its use in all cases due to the high amount of information that can be obtained on both the morphology of the bone as well as its connections with other anatomical structures. However, in order to establish common guidelines further research is necessary.