Standardized panoramic radiography in assessment of mandibular augmentation with hydroxylapatite material: preliminary report.

This study evaluates the usefulness of a head-positioner/cephalostat in producing standardized panoramic radiographs by assessing the reproducibility of the radiographs and comparing the standardized panoramic radiographic findings with those obtained from 45 degrees right and left lateral cephalograms. Comparison of measurements indicated that this cephalostat produced reproducible panoramic radiographs. Measurements on each panoramic radiograph showed standard deviations ranging from 0.0 to 0.24 mm (pooled SD = 0.12), whereas the SDs for the 45 degrees lateral cephalograms ranged from 0.0 to 0.45 (pooled SD = 0.14). This indicates that the panoramic radiographs obtained with this head-positioner/cephalostat were comparable to those obtained by 45 degrees lateral cephalograms.