Effect of Mandible Phantom Inclination in the Axial Plane on Image Quality in the Presence of Implant Using Cone-Beam Computer Tomography.

Purpose To assess the effect of 30° phantom inclination on image quality in the presence of an implant using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and methods Three series of eight scans were taken and categorized by a range of 87-90 kVp and 7.1 mA, and 8 mA. For the first CBCT series, the phantom was placed on a flat plane. For the second series, the phantom was inclined at 30° in the axial plane. For the third series, inclined scans were re-oriented and included for statistics. In total, 24 scans were used for statistics. i.e., eight scans at three different planes (flat plane, inclined plane, and re-oriented inclined plane). All the images were analyzed for artifact and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) on ImageJ software. Results The inclination of the dry human mandible phantom by 30° reduces the artifact (p <0.05). However, the CNR was not affected by the phantom inclination. Conclusion The appropriate inclination of the head can significantly reduce the metal artifact in the presence of implants and thus improve the CBCT image quality for post-operative follow-up.