Metal artifact reduction using common dental materials

Objectives To determine the effect of different dental lab materials on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) metal artifact at different resolutions. Methods A total of seven common dental lab materials were molded to a dental sextant of four extracted, restored teeth. In addition to base alone (control), each material was scanned using the Carestream 9600 CBCT unit at three resolutions - 0.3 mm, 0.15 mm, and 0.075 mm - at manufacturer established exposure parameters. A single, representative axial view of each trial was evaluated for metal artifact both quantitatively by histogram analysis and qualitatively by profile plot analysis in ImageJ. Results No statistically significant differences between the control and the dental materials were found; however, post-hoc tests showed significance between Blu-mousse R and polyvinyl siloxane with dental materials and control, predominantly in lower resolutions. Conclusions The current study provides initial evidence on the influence of dental materials have on CBCT metal artifact as described by beam hardening, photon starvation, scatter, and noise, especially at lower resolutions. Blu-Mousse R and polyvinyl siloxane reduced the perceived beam hardening and photon starvation artifact the greatest, relative to other materials, at all three resolutions and lower resolutions, respectively.