[Comparison between cone beam computed tomography and periapical radiography in the diagnosis of periapical disease].

With the development of medical radiography, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has been widely used in stomatology because of its numerous advantages, such as adequate spatial resolution, low radiation, undistorted three- dimensional tissue information, and good applicability for hard tissue imaging. Traditional periapical radiography is based on two-dimensional image which displays the three-dimensional object and its surrounding structures. Periapical radiography can only show the overlapping mesio-distally direction bone destruction, can't show buccolingual direction bone destruction. As a kind of three-dimensional imaging technology, CBCT can show three-dimensional structure of the organization from sagittal, coronal and axial direction, to overcome the defect of two-dimensional image such as overlap and deformation. CBCT has a unique advantage than periapical radiography in the diagnosis and treatment for periapical disease. This review will summarize the difference between CBCT and periapical radiography in the periapical disease.