The purpose of this study was to visualize and identify peri-implant bone defects in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and to obtain quantitative measurements of the defect depth.

Dehiscence defects were intentionally formed in porcine mandibles and implants were simultaneously placed without flap elevation. Only the threads of the fixture could be seen at the bone defect site in the OCT images, so the depth of the peri-implant bone defect could be measured through the length of the visible threads. To analyze the reliability of the OCT measurements, the flaps were elevated and the depth of the dehiscence defects was measured with a digital caliper.

The average defect depth measured by a digital caliper was 4.88±1.28 mm, and the corresponding OCT measurement was 5.11±1.33 mm. Very thin bone areas that were sufficiently transparent in the coronal portion were penetrated by the optical beam in OCT imaging and regarded as bone loss. The intraclass correlation coefficient between the 2 methods was high, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) close to 1. In the Bland-Altman analysis, most measured values were within the threshold of the 95% CI, suggesting close agreement of the OCT measurements with the caliper measurements.

OCT images can be used to visualize the peri-implant bone level and to identify bone defects. The potential of quantitative non-invasive measurements of the amount of bone loss was also confirmed.