Yi Sun1, 2,
Djaudat Idiyatullin3, Donald R. Nixdorf4, 5,
X.Frank Walboomers6, Egbert Oosterwijk2, Michael
Garwood3, Arend Heerschap1
1Radiology,
Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands; 2Urology,
Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands; 3Center
for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minnespolis, MN,
United States; 4Department of of Diagnostic & Biological Sciences,
School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States;
5Department of Neurology, Medical School, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, United States; 6Dentistry, Radboud University
Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Dental X-ray has several disadvantages, including an increased risk for meningioma, necessitating to consider other imaging options. It has been demonstrated that 1H MRI by the SWIFT technique can offer high-resolution diagnostic images of human teeth. However, dental MRI focuses on 1H, while the main content of human tooth is crystalline calcium phosphate. Therefore we explored the feasibility of 31P SWIFT and ZTE MRI of teeth to obtain direct information of phosphate constituents. We demonstrate that this is possible and in combination with 1H MRI can identify the anatomy of tooth and has the potential to determine bone phosphate density.