Artifacts among Cone Beam Computed Tomography Images of Patients of Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Cone beam computed tomography is widely used as a mode of investigation in the field of dentistry. Although presenting a three-dimensional picture of head and neck structures it does carry drawbacks in the form of artifacts which not only degrade image quality but a repeat of the radiograph leading the patient to radiation exposure again. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of artifacts among cone beam computed tomography images of patients visiting tertiary care centre. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on cone beam computed tomography images of patients in the archives of dental radiology at the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology wherein all cone beam computed tomography radiographs of patients after taking an ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Approval number: 13/22) from 1 January 2019 to 19 March 2022 were included in the study. The study included 780 image of patients. Convenience sampling was used. The artifacts when present was noted and categorised as inherent artifacts, procedure-related artifacts, introduced artifacts and patient motion artifacts. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. RESULTS: Among 780 cone beam computed tomography image patients, artifacts were seen in 665 (85.25%) (82.76-87.74, 95% Confidence Interval) study images. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of artifacts among cone beam computed tomography images of patients is similar to the studies done in similar settings.