Objective
To assess trabecular bone structure as calculated with fractal analysis by 2 binarization
processes: White and Rudolph's original method (WR.o) and a revised version (WR.r).
Fractal dimension (FD) values calculated with WR.r (FD.r) and a gray-scale-based method
(FD.f) were also compared. FD, histogram parameters, and lacunarity were compared
by dentate status, jaw location, and sex.
Study Design
Regions of interest from digital periapical radiographs were defined below the teeth
roots and in the edentulous sites of 37 patients. Histograms were assessed for pixel
values. Binarization was performed with WR.o and then with WR.r, in which the outliers
were removed. FD was assessed using WR.r (FD.r) and (FD.f). Histograms were assessed
to obtain pixel values. Lacunarity was calculated.
Results
WR.r revealed fewer trabeculae, branches, and junctions than WR.o (P < .0001). The majority of the mean differences between FD.r and FD.f were within
the 95% CI. Dentate areas had greater mean gray levels than partially edentulous areas
(P = .0027). FD.f was higher in the mandible (P = .01), but gray-level SD (P < .0001) and lacunarity (P = .02) were greater in the maxilla. FD.f and lacunarity were higher (P = .0005) and lower (P = .0014) in males, respectively.
Conclusion
WR.r was effective in revealing skeletonized bone trabeculae by removing non-trabecular
noise. FD.r and FD.f revealed good agreement. FD.f, histogram parameters, and lacunarity
differed based on dentate status, jaw location, and sex.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral RadiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
REFERENCES
- Use of fractal analysis in dental images: a systematic review.Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2020; 4920180457
- Fractal properties of bone.Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2000; 29: 144-153
- Use of micro-computed tomography for bone evaluation in dentistry.Braz Dent J. 2018; 29: 227-238
- Cortical fractal analysis and collagen crosslinks content in femoral neck after osteoporotic fracture in postmenopausal women: comparison with osteoarthritis.Calcif Tissue Int. 2018; 102: 644-650
- Fractal dimension and mandibular cortical width in normal and osteoporotic men and women.Maturitas. 2014; 77: 142-148
- Effect of micro-computed tomography reconstruction protocols on bone fractal dimension analysis.Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2019; 4820190235
- Systematic review with hierarchical clustering analysis for the fractal dimension in assessment of skeletal bone mineral density using dental radiographs.Oral Radiol. 2015; 31: 1-13
- Fractal and multifractal analysis: a review.Med Image Anal. 2009; 13: 634-649
- Alterations of the trabecular pattern of the jaws in patients with osteoporosis.Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 1999; 88: 628-635
- Use of fractal analysis in dental images for osteoporosis detection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Osteoporos Int. 2021; 32: 1041-1052
“FracLac for ImageJ.” Available at: https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/plugins/fraclac/FLHelp/Introduction.htm. Accessed February 9, 2022.
- Lacunarity for spatial heterogeneity measurement in GIS.Geogr Inf Sci. 2000; 6: 20-26
- BoneJ: free and extensible bone image analysis in ImageJ.Bone. 2010; 47: 1076-1079
- A guideline of selecting and reporting intraclass correlation coefficients for reliability research.J Chiropr Med. 2016; 15 (Erratum in: J Chiropr Med. 2017;16:346): 155-163
- Pilot validation of the tuberous sclerosis-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TAND) checklist.Pediatr Neurol. 2015; 52: 16-24
- Fractal dimension and lacunarity analysis of dental radiographs.Dentomaxillofacial Radiol. 2005; 34: 261-267
- Clinical periodontology and implant dentistry, 2 Volumes.5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJUK, 2021
- Distributional variations in the quantitative cortical and trabecular bone radiographic measurements of mandible, between male and female populations of korea, and its utilization.PLoS One. 2016; 11E0167992
- Analysis of trabecular bone using site-specific fractal values calculated from cone beam CT images.Oral Radiol. 2014; 30: 179-185
- Bone quality evaluation at dental implant site using multislice CT, micro-CT, and cone beam CT.Clin Oral Implants Res. 2015; 26: e1-e7
- Rehabilitation of biting abilities in patients with different types of dental prostheses.J Oral Rehabil. 2000; 27: 1073-1076
- Rodrigues Garcia RCM. Mastication improvement after partial implant-supported prosthesis use.J Dent Res. 2013; 92: 189S-194S
- Bone quality, quantity and metabolism in terms of dental implantation.Biomed Tech. 2008; 53: 215-219
- Characteristic features of trabecular bone in edentulous mandibles.Clin Oral Implants Res. 2009; 20: 594-600
- Lacunarity analysis of spatial pattern in CT images of vertebral trabecular bone for assessing osteoporosis.Med Eng Phys. 2002; 24: 129-138
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 01, 2022
Accepted:
November 25,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 19,
2022
Received:
June 9,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
