Comparison of periapical radiography, panoramic radiography, and CBCT in the evaluation of trabecular bone structure using fractal analysis

The aim of this study is to compare imaging techniques to evaluate trabecular bone structure using Fractal Analysis (FA).

Fifteen sheep hemimandibles were used for this study. Digital images were obtained using periapical radiography, panoramic radiography, and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). CBCT imaging was performed in standard (STD) and high-resolution (HR) modes. FA was conducted using ImageJ 1.3 software with the box-counting method on the images. The fractal dimension (FD) values were analyzed by the statistical software Jamovi 1.6.23. Statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05.

The highest mean FD value was the FD on digital periapical radiographs (PaFD) (1.28 ± 0.04), and the lowest mean FD value was the FD on standard resolution cone-beam computed tomography images (STD-CBCTFD) (1.12 ± 0.10). Although there was no statistically significant difference between the PaFD and the FD on digital panoramic radiographs (PanFD) (p = 0.485), the PaFD was found to be significantly higher than STD-CBCTFD (p < 0.001), and the FD on high-resolution cone-beam computed tomography images (HR-CBCTFD) (p = 0.007). The PanFD was found to be significantly higher than the STD-CBCTFD (p = 0.004).

According to our results, in the evaluation of trabecular bone structure using FA, periapical radiographs and panoramic radiographs have similar image quality for assessment of the FD. On the other hand, CBCT results did not correlate with results from any of the other techniques in this study.