Use of biplanar radiographs for estimating cross-sectional geometric properties of mandibles.

Several radiographic techniques for estimating bone cross-sectional geometric properties of mandibular corpora are compared. A hollow asymmetrical model significantly improves estimates compared to solid or hollow symmetrical models that have been used in previous studies. Using this model, biplanar radiographs can give sufficiently accurate information of the amount and distribution of cortical bone in a section given relatively regular subperiosteal and endosteal perimeters.