Dosimetry and image quality of four dental cone beam computed tomography scanners compared with multislice computed tomography scanners

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the radiation dose and image quality of four dental cone beam CT (CBCT) scanners, and to compare them with those of two multislice CT (MSCT) scanners. Methods: Tissue doses were measured using a tissue-equivalent anthropomorphic RANDO Head Phantom® with thermoluminescence dosemeters (TLD). An RSVP Head PhantomTM with a specially designed cylindrical insert was used for comparison of image quality and absorbed dose. Image quality was evaluated in the form of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and modulation transfer function (MTF). Results: Using standard imaging parameters, the effective doses varied between 14 µSv and 269 µSv (International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) 1990) and 27 µSv and 674 µSv (ICRP 2008) with the CBCT scanners, and between 350 µSv and 742 µSv (ICRP 1990) and 685 µSv and 1410 µSv (ICRP 2008) with the MSCT scanners. The CNR of the CBCT and MSCT scanners were 8.2–18.8 and 13.6–20.7, respectively. Low-dose MSCT protocols provided...