radiographic interpretation Flashcards
what features of a radiograph do we look at to determine if there is a problem
symmetry
margins
bone consistency
dentition
supporting bone
any other features
summary
proposals
if there is a straight opaque margin in a sinus what would it suggest it is
if it is straight would suggest it is probably a liquid
- if it was curved would expect to have something in sinus that was expanding
what does radiolucent mean
loss of previously opaque material
what does radiopaque mean
increased attenuation
if replacing air with anything how does it look on radiograph
will look more radiopaque than it did before = e.g. soft tissue in a sinus
how can you tell the difference between cortical and cancellous bone
more compact in cortical
how does site of pathology in radiographs help us diagnose
if in the alveolar bone it could have dental origin
if in basal bone unlikely to be dental origin unless it has spread and expanded into the basal bone
how would you describe the shape of a pathology
- circular = means something expanding evenly
- unilocular
- multilocular = scalloped margin or internal divisions
- irregular = most concerning
what can the size of radiographic pathology indciate
length of time it has been there
what margins can a radiographic pathology have
well-defined
ill-defined= irregular shapes, worrying
what two categories of well-defined margins are there
corticated
not corticated
what does corticated bone look like radiographically
has a white line around it
what does a corticated margin tell us
that the bone is still remodelling which means it is slow growing = good sign
if pathology has caused displacement of another structure what does that tell us
indicates it is slow growing because the bone has had to remodel around it as it is growing and has had time to re-model
if pathology has caused expansion of other structure what does that tell us
reasonably slow growing as bone needs to remodel
