value of pre-operative radiographic examination of edentulous patients prior to denture construction: the risk versus the benefit

ABSTRACT

Many investigators recommended a routine radiographic examination for the edentulous cases before denture treatment. Panoramic radiographs obtained from inactive files of 212 patients -of both sexes- who required treatment in the college of dentistry KSU. The radiographs were me-ticulously examined. The plan of this study was to examine panoramic radiographs of edentulous patients with emphasis on the incidence of five entities ; root fragments, impacted teeth, radio-lucencies, radiopacities, and foreign bodies. Of the 212 panoramic radiographs examined, 180 were free of positive findings, and 32 [15.1%] have shown positive findings ,eighteen patients [8.5%] had one or more remaining root fragments, and this entity was statistically significant from the other entities. Three patients [1.4%] demonstrated impacted teeth. Five patients [2.4%] demonstrated radiopacities, two patients [1.9%] demonstrated radiolucencies. The radiographs of four patients [1.9%] demonstrated foreign bodies. The results of this study have proved the necessity of performing routine radiographic examination of the jaws for all edentulous patients before constructing complete dentures. It also indicates the need for a better extraction technique together with the use of radiographs before and after extraction