Microtomography of the Human tooth-alveolar bone complex

Abstract

In this study the structure of the adult human dentoalveolar process is examined using conventional and synchrotron radiation-based microtomography (SRμCT). Mandibular and maxillary segments containing two to five adjacent teeth were harvested at autopsy from 49 adult donors. These segments were embedded in blocks of methylmetacrylate and scanned using a conventional table-top μCT-scanner at a pixel size and slice thickness of 35 μm. A few segments were also scanned at a synchrotron facility at an initial pixel size of 16.4 μm, which was binned by a factor 2 to result in an effective voxel size of almost 32.8 μm. The three-dimensional reconstructions revealed how intricately the teeth are supported by the alveolar bone. Furthermore, this support is highly inhomogeneous with respect to the buccal, mesial, lingual and distal quadrants. Reflecting their various degrees of mineralization, tissues like bone, dentine, enamel and cementum, could well be identified, especially in the scans made with SRμCT. Despite comparable voxel sizes, the reconstructed data-sets obtained with conventional μCT were less detailed and somewhat fuzzy in appearance compared to the data-sets of SRμCT. However, for quantification of macroscopical features like the thickness of the alveolar wall or the presence of dehiscences/fenestrations this seemed sufficient.