Comparison of Dental Findings with Computed Tomographic and Clinical Examination in Patients with End-Stage Heart Failure

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 13; no. 18; p. 5406
• Main Authors: Merle, Cordula Leonie, Gocke, Julia, Seitz, Patrick, Gutberlet, Matthias, Saeed, Diyar, Haak, Rainer, Ziebolz, Dirk, Gohmann, Robin Fabian, Schmalz, Gerhard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 12.09.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Calibration; Care and treatment; Comparative analysis; CT imaging; Dentists; Endodontics; Germany; Health aspects; Heart failure; Jaw; Medical imaging; Medical records; Mortality; Oral hygiene; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Teeth; Germany; computed tomography; oral health; heart transplantation; radiographs; heart disease
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13185406

: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of pre-existing computed tomography (CT) examinations for the detection of dental pathologies compared with clinical dental examination in patients with end-stage heart failure. : For this purpose, 59 patients with end-stage heart failure and pre-existing non-dental CT images of the craniofacial region were included. Virtual orthopantomograms (vOPG) were reconstructed. Dental pathologies were analyzed in vOPG and source-CT images. Imaging and clinical findings less than 6 months apart were compared ( = 24). : The subjective image quality of vOPG was more often rated as insufficient than CT (66%; 20%; < 0.01). Depending on examination (CT, vOPG or clinic), between 33% and 92% of the patients could require dental intervention such as treatment of caries and periodontitis or tooth extraction. vOPG led to a higher (80%) prevalence of teeth requiring treatment than CT (39%; < 0.01). The prevalence of teeth requiring treatment was similar in CT (29%) and clinic (29%; = 1.00) but higher in vOPG (63%; < 0.01). CT (stage 3 or 4: 42%) and vOPG (38%) underestimated the stage of periodontitis (clinic: 75%; < 0.01). : In conclusion, available CT images including the craniofacial region from patients with end-stage heart failure may contain valuable information regarding oral health status. The assessability of vOPGs might be insufficient and must be interpreted with caution.