Contrast-enhanced dental MRI for visualization of the teeth and jaw.

A technique for contrast-enhanced dental MRI is described that enables 3D visualization of the oral cavity, including the jaw and teeth. Since teeth are MR-invisible, the basic principle of this technique is that the teeth and jaw can be observed indirectly through contrast with a surrounding MR-visible medium. For this purpose, the oral cavity is filled with a nontoxic substance, such as water or MR contrast media, that gives a high MR signal. A 3D data set covering the entire buccal space is acquired, and the image intensities are inverted. Since isosurface reconstructions of the teeth and jaw, as well as panoramic views analogous to orthopantomography, can be extracted from these data, contrast-enhanced dental MRI may be useful as a flexible tool for dentistry and orthodontics. Moreover, contrast-enhanced dental MRI works without radiation exposure, and therefore it is an interesting alternative to X-ray-based imaging modalities such as conventional radiography and dental CT. In this article, some preliminary results obtained with contrast-enhanced dental MRI are shown in order to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of this new approach. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.