Standardized radiographs of the alveolar crest around implants in the mandible.

The techniques currently used for standardized longitudinal radiographic evaluation of the supporting bone around dental implants are not suitable for general application. An aiming device is described for intraoral radiography used to evaluate the crestal bone height around dental implants used as retention for overdentures. This aiming device has been tested on four different implant systems by four dentists. Error analysis of serial radiographs indicates small deviations in reproducibility. It is concluded that this method is suitable for routine evaluation of dental implants.