Comparison of CT-number and gray scale value of different dental materials and hard tissues in CT and CBCT

Introduction: Computed tomography (CT) and cone-beam CT (CBCT) are valuable diagnostic aids for many clinical applications. This study was designed to compare the gray scale value (GSV) and Hounsfield unit (HU) of selected dental materials and various hard tissues using CT or CBCT. Methods and Materials: Three samples of all test materials including amalgam (AM), composite resin (CR), glass ionomer (GI), zinc-oxide eugenol (ZOE), calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement, AH-26 root canal sealer (AH-26), gutta-percha (GP), Coltosol (Col), Dycal (DL), mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), zinc phosphate (ZP), and polycarbonate cement (PC) were prepared and scanned together with samples of bone, dentin and enamel using two CBCT devices, Scanora 3D (S3D) and NewTom VGi (NTV) and a spiral CT (SCT) scanner (Somatom Emotion 16 multislice spiral CT);. Subsequently, the HU and GSV values were determined and evaluated. The data were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The level of significance was determined at 0.05. Results: There were significant differences among the three different scanners (P<0.05). The differences between HU/GSV values of 12 selected dental materials using NTV was significant (P<0.05) and for S3D and SCT was insignificant (P>0.05). All tested materials showed maximum values in S3D and SCT (3094 and 3071, respectively); however, bone and dentin showed low/medium values (P<0.05). In contrast, the tested materials and tissues showed a range of values in NTV (366 to15383; P<0.05). Conclusion: Scanner system can influence the obtained HU/GSV of dental materials. NTV can discriminate various dental materials, in contrast to S3D/SCT scanners. NTV may be a more useful diagnostic aid for clinical practice.