Comparing the diagnostic efficacy of intraoral radiography and cone beam computed tomography volume registration in the detection of mandibular alveolar bone defects.

CBCT showed equivalent diagnostic efficacy and specificity for defect detection and higher sensitivity compared with intraoral radiography. CBCT increases the odds of accurate defect assessment more than 2-fold compared with intraoral radiography. The odds of bone loss detection increase by approximately 50% per millimeter of buccolingual alveolar bone loss.