Comparison of the distance between the alveolar crest and maxillary sinus floor on cross-sectional, 3D and panoramic views of CBCT

Knowledge of the exact location of the floor of maxillary sinus is a very important factor in relation to safe regions for implant therapy and surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the distance between the alveolar crest and maxillary sinus floor on cross-sectional, 3D and panoramic views of CBCT.
A total of 94 CBCT images taken with Galileos machine were selected for the purpose of this cross-sectional study, using convenience sampling. The distance between the alveolar crest and the floor of maxillary sinus was determined on 3D, panoramic and cross-sectional views at the regions of teeth #4, #5, #6 and #7 by two radiologists. Data were analyzed with SPSS 20, using the repeated-measures ANOVA, paired t-test and kappa ratio (α=0.05).
There were significant differences in the distances between the alveolar crest and the floor of the sinus in the second premolar area on the three different views (p value = 0.011). However, there were no significant differences in other areas between the three views (p valuefirst premolar = 0.602, p valuefirst molar = 0.079, p valuesecond premolar = 0.498). T-test revealed significant differences between 3D and cross-sectional views (p value = 0.008) and 3D with panoramic views (p value = 0.001), but the difference between the panoramic and cross-sectional views was not significant (p value = 0.868).
In comparisons made in relation to the distance between the alveolar crest and the floor of the maxillary sinus, there were significant differences between 3D and cross-sectional, and 3D and panoramic views; however, the difference between cross-sectional and panoramic views was not significant.