Impacted Third Molar- Being Careful

My lecture partner Paul Feuerstein forwarded me this link. There are many benefits of using Cone Beam technology in dentistry.

Complaint:
Patient was complaining from pain in the left mandible.

Description:
The patient was sent for a panoramic radiography, the panoramic image was not very useful and more advanced imaging capable of showing the third dimension and the exact topographic relationship between different anatomical structures was needed. A cone beam CT was performed and the data was processed; the two and three dimensional reconstructions showed that the third molar is partially erupted with a possible communication between the oral cavity and the pericoronal sac and this is most probably the cause of the pain.
The reconstruction also shows that the mandibular canal is completely enveloped by the roots of the third molar and this will drastically change the surgical strategy and will remarkably increase the possibility and diversity of post surgical consequences.

More images on the conebeam web site