Pulp volume estimation using CBCT- an in vitro pilot study on extracted monoradicular teeth

• Author Details:   
• Akshay Rathore
• Suma GN
• Sharad Sahai
• Manisha Lakhanpal Sharma
• Siddharth Srivastava

---

Aim: Age estimation is an important aspect of forensic odontology. Calculation of pulp volume using CBCT and its correlation with age could be an effective, non destructive method. The aim of this pilot study was to verify and calibrate the proposed method of calculating pulp and tooth volume using CBCT.
Methods: The study was conducted on six extracted monoradicular teeth which were scanned by Cone Beam CT (CS9300-C 3D.Carestream Health, Inc. Rochester, NY) after endodontic preparation. The tooth (TV2) and pulp volumes (PV 2) were then calculated using imaging software (Xelis Dental software (INFINITT Inc., Seoul, South Korea). Then actual tooth (TV1) and pulp volumes (PV1) were calculated based on the Archimedes principle. The pulp and tooth volume ratios R1 and R2 were also calculated. The estimated and actual values were compared and percentage error was calculated.
Results: The percentage error was also calculated to evaluate the accuracy which was found to be 8.84%, 2.6% and 12.7% for TV1 and TV2, PV1 and PV2 and R1 and R2 respectively.
Conclusion: These were in accordance with the results by Yang et al⁷ who obtained a percentage error of ±7.8% while the estimated error was quite less than that reported by Star et al⁸ who reported the maximum percentage error to be 21% and 16% for pulp and tooth volumes respectively.

Keywords: Age Estimation, Forensic Odontology, Cone Beam CT, Pulp Volume