Dosimetric evaluation of dental implant planning examinations with cone-beam computed tomography.

The aim of this work was to perform a dosimetric evaluation of two cone-beam computed tomography scanners. The study was performed with two scanners: i-CAT classic and PreXion 3D. Air kerma-area product (PKA) was measured for all full-arch dental implant planning protocols. Surface air kerma was also estimated at the region of the eyes, salivary glands and thyroid using thermoluminescence dosemeters positioned on an anthropomorphic phantom. The PKA values for the i-CAT classic ranged from 24 to 180 µGy m(2) and, for the PreXion, from 70 to 138 µGy m(2). The large variation of these values was mainly caused by acquisition time and field of views. The surface air kerma values were from 0.08 to 3.39 mGy at the eyes, 0.50 to 3.96 mGy at the parotids, 0.11 to 2.95 mGy at the submandibular glands and 0.05 to 1.32 mGy at the thyroid. These values are comparable with those found in the literature.