Prevalence and Reporting Rates of Incidental Dental Disease on Head CT Examinations

Publication date: Available online 2 March 2018
Source:Academic Radiology
Author(s): Khaled Hammoud, Michael Lanfranchi, Daniel Adams, Harprit S. Bedi, William A. Mehan
Rationale and ObjectivesRoutine head computed tomography (CT) examinations often inadvertently include dental pathology which is often overlooked. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of dental disease incidentally present and detected on head CT examinations, and to determine the effect of the institution of a dental disease field or macro in a standardized head CT dictation template on the rate of reporting dental disease.Materials and MethodsHead CT examinations were retrospectively and randomly selected from all examinations performed 6 months before, and 6 months after the institution of a dental disease field in a standardized head CT template. Dental findings were recorded from the initial finalized report. Examination images were subsequently reviewed for the presence of dental disease by two neuroradiologists who were blinded to the original reports and to each other's findings.ResultsOne hundred examinations were reviewed in the analysis. At our institution, 33% of the randomly selected head CT examinations included the level of the teeth (100/307). Dental disease was determined to be present in 40%–41% of these cases. Only 11% of the initial reports mentioned dental disease (P < .01). Addition of a dental disease field in the dictation template resulted in no significant difference in reporting dental disease (14% vs 8%, P = .371).ConclusionsIncidental dental disease is common and frequently underreported. Inclusion of a dental disease field in a standardized template does not significantly improve the rate of reporting dental disease.



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