2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 It provides stability of the upper dental arch, gives bone support for the teeth adjacent to the cleft area, supports the lip and the nose, restores INCB018424 datasheet facial asymmetry, closes the residual oronasal fistula, and provides bone support for dental implants in prosthetic rehabilitation.7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 Different imaging methods have been used to define

the real extension of alveolar and palatal defects and the amount of bone graft necessary to restore oral clefts.6, 12 and 13 The increasing use of volumetric imaging examinations in dentistry has enabled a better understanding of the morphologic structures aiding diagnosis and treatment of various processes that affect this region. Computerized tomography (CT) allows precise assessments of the shape, quality (cortical and cancellous), height, and thickness of the bone by using multiplanar reconstructions. According to Scarfe et al.,14 cone-beam CT (CBCT) provides real-time creation of images in several planes simultaneously (multiplanar reconstructions) and parasagittal sections through imaging volume, with broad applications in clinical practice, mainly for planning of dental implants and diagnosis of dental alveolar fractures, pathologies, and developmental anomalies of the maxillofacial

CDK inhibitor region. Recently the use of 3-dimensional (3D) reconstructed images associated with a navigation system in independent workstations improved preoperative assessment

and evaluated the results of the alveolar graft Idoxuridine procedure along time by using linear and volumetric measurements of the cleft.9, 15 and 16 The aim of the present study was to determine the applicability of multislice CT (MSCT) and CBCT to obtain the volume of bone defects in dry skulls and to compare both imaging modalities. The present study was submitted to and approved by the Committee of Ethics and Research of our institution, under protocol 120/2008. Nine dry skulls were used to make bone defects in the region of the alveolar ridge and hard palate mimicking unilaterally transforamen clefts. Bone defects were initially designed in the skulls with permanent marker pen, serving as a guide to perform the cuts. Using a pneumatic saw (Micro 100 reciprocating pneumatic handpiece; Zimmer, Hall, Linvatec Corp., Largo, FL, USA) pressurized by a cylinder of compressed air, bone defects were made differing in size, shape, and position between left and right (Fig. 1). The site of the simulated cleft was selected by simulating the common area of the surgical procedure, and the size was made by following the same procedure. No specific reason was attended for the site and the size of bone defect. All bone defects produced were modeled with wax following the contralateral shape of alveolar ridge and hard palate (Fig. 2).