Assessment of slice thickness effect on visibility of inferior alveolar canal in cone beam computed tomography images

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of slice thickness on the visibility of inferior alveolar canal (IAC) in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CBCT images of thirty patients (15 male and 15 female) with an age range between 40–50 years old were used. Cross-sectional images were obtained with 0.5, 1, and 2 mm slice thickness and 2 mm interval. Two oral radiologists with at least 5 years' of experience observed all of the 90 images and rated the images based on the visibility of IAC in a 4-score classification (highly visible, visible, nearly visible, nearly invisible). Friedman test was used for the comparison of visibility of IAC in different slice thicknesses. To do the above test, the average of the scores of two examiners was calculated. A P. value below 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Visibility of IAC in different slice thicknesses of both raters showed no significant difference (P = 0.20). CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this study the slice thickness has no effect on visibility of IAC in cross-sectional images. Future studies on other multiplanar images are recommended.