Cone Beam Computer Tomography (CBCT) or a CT machine are necessary hardware to
takes images of the patient for further processing through virtual implant
placement software. There are many companies offering
CBCT scanners on the market today and acquisition costs are declining.
Important
hardware factors to consider are the field of view (FOV) and slice thickness
produced by either the CBCT or CT scanner. In general a hospital grade CT
scanner will produce thinner slices (0.2mm) and has a greater FOV (size of the
image taken). A CBCT scanner generates thicker slices (0.5mm and up) and a
smaller FOV. Slice thickness of more than 1mm is detrimental and results
in a data set unusable for virtual implant planning. Thinner slices are more
desirable because more diagnostic information can be extracted but thinner
slices increase the size of the data set (computer memory) considerably. Larger
data sets demand greater computing power to manipulate and render the images
with the implant placement software. An independent and in depth introduction
relating to
CBCT hardware and software requirements can be found on
Dr. Aaron Molens
website.