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Identifying the course of the greater palatine artery using intraoral ultrasonography: cohort study

  • Anatomic Bases of Medical, Radiological and Surgical Techniques
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Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aims

The greater palatine artery (GPA) is one of the most important anatomical structure for free gingival grafts or connective-tissue grafts during soft tissue surgery for dental implants. Several studies have identified the approximate location of the GPA, but it is impossible to detect its exact location during surgery due to large variability between individuals. The authors, therefore, investigated the course of the GPA using intraoral ultrasonography to determine the feasibility of using real-time nonionizing ultrasonography for implant surgery.

Materials and methods

This study included 40 healthy young participants. The courses of the GPA were identified using intraoral ultrasound probes from the first premolar to the second molar. The distance from the gingival margin to the GPA (GM-GPA) and the depth of the palatal gingiva from the GPA (PG-GPA) were measured by two independent examiners. Measurements were analyzed statistically, and interexaminer reliability was determined.

Results

The distance of the GM-GPA and the mean depth of the PG-GPA were 14.8 ± 1.6 mm and 4.10 ± 0.51 mm (mean ± SD), respectively. GM-GPA decreased when the GPA ran from the second molar to the first molar, and GM-GPA was significantly shorter in females (P < 0.05). PG-GPA increased when the GPA ran to the posterior teeth. Interexaminer measurement agreements were excellent, with intraclass correlation coefficient values of 0.983 and 0.918 for GM-GPA and PG-GPA, respectively.

Conclusions

Using an intraoral ultrasound probe, real-time GPA tracking is possible, which is expected to help reduce the possibility of bleeding during surgery.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Kang-Hee Lee and Wonse Park contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Advanced General Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Yonseiro 50-1, Shinchondong, Seoul, 03722, South Korea

    Kang-Hee Lee, Wonse Park, Jieun Cheong & Kee-Deog Kim

  2. Department of Advanced General Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Human Identification Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

    Kyeong-Mee Park

  3. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea

    Jin-Woo Kim

Authors
  1. Kang-Hee Lee
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  2. Wonse Park
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  3. Jieun Cheong
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  4. Kyeong-Mee Park
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  5. Jin-Woo Kim
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  6. Kee-Deog Kim
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Contributions

KDK and WP conceived the ideas and research design of the study; KL and JC contributed on data acquisition; KP and JK analyzed and interpreted the data; KL and WP wrote initial draft; KL, WP, KP, JC, JK, and KK critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; all the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kee-Deog Kim.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare. We have no specific funding source. We got institutional review board (IRB) from Dental Hospital, Yonsei University.

Data availability

The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Lee, KH., Park, W., Cheong, J. et al. Identifying the course of the greater palatine artery using intraoral ultrasonography: cohort study. Surg Radiol Anat 44, 1139–1146 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-022-02967-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-022-02967-y

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