Radiological measurement of bone density to assess the efficiency of bone graft

Introduction: The ideal bone graft substitute should provide osteogenetic cells to facilitate bone regeneration, osteoinductive factors to induce bone formation and an osteoconductive matrix to directly stimulate bone deposition. The present study was conducted to radiologically assess the regenerative potential of hydroxyapatite with collagen and to evaluate the clinical usefulness of these materials to enhance bone healing. Materials and methods: Orthopentomogram (OPG) were taken after extraction in the control group and after extraction but before graft placement in study group and post operatively after 8 weeks. Each image was analyzed for bone density of the post-extraction sockets through ‘densitometric analysis’ software in the OPG program. Chi-square test was applied to find the correlation. Results: Post-operative mean measurement for study group was 108.72±22.54 after extraction and was 136.59±23.20 after 8 weeks with significant p value (0.00). The value for control group was 119.69±18.41 after extraction and was 121.39±14.21 after 8 weeks with insignificant p value (1.96). Conclusion: Grafting of the surgical site results in faster regeneration of tissue and computer assisted image analysis software is an important aid in assessing the bone density changes at the surgical site.