Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Jan 28, 2016; 8(1): 50-58
Published online Jan 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i1.50
Review on the applications of ultrasonography in dentomaxillofacial region
Şehrazat Evirgen, Kıvanç Kamburoğlu
Şehrazat Evirgen, Private Practice, 06512 İzmir, Turkey
Kıvanç Kamburoğlu, Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara University, 06500 Ankara, Turkey
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception, literature review, and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kıvanç Kamburoğlu, DDS, MSc, PhD, Department of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara University, Çankaya, 06500 Ankara, Turkey. kamburogluk@dentistry.ankara.edu.tr
Telephone: +90-312-2965632 Fax: +90-312-2123954
Received: August 3, 2015
Peer-review started: August 6, 2015
First decision: September 21, 2015
Revised: October 31, 2015
Accepted: December 3, 2015
Article in press: December 4, 2015
Published online: January 28, 2016
Processing time: 176 Days and 3.3 Hours
Abstract

Use of ultrasonography (US) in dentomaxillofacial region became popular in recent years owing to increasing radiation dose concerns and economic limitations. It helps to visualize fine detail of the surface structure of the oral and maxillofacial tissues without ionizing radiation. In diagnostic ultrasound, high frequency sound waves are transmitted into the body by a transducer and echoes from tissue interface are detected and displayed on a screen. Sound waves are emitted via piezoelectric crystals from the ultrasound transducer. US technique can be used in dentomaxillofacial region for the examination of bone and superficial soft tissue, detection of major salivary gland lesions, temporomandibular joint imaging, assessment of fractures and vascular lesions, lymph node examination, measurement of the thickness of muscles and visualization of vessels of the neck. It has the potential to be used in the evaluation of periapical lesions and follow up of periapical bone healing. Also, it may be used for the evaluation of periodontal pocket depth and for the determination of gingival thickness before dental implantology.

Keywords: Ultrasonography; Dentistry; Radiology; Dentomaxillofacial radiology

Core tip: Use of ultrasonography in dentomaxillofacial region became popular in recent years owing to increasing concerns regarding radiation dose and economic limitations. It provides several advantages for dento-maxillofacial imaging such as; presence of non-ionizing radiation, portability, possibility of dynamic and repeated examinations and low cost. Main drawbacks include limited penetration into bone and gas filled structures, less spatial resolution at deep tissues and lack of expertise.