Fractals in dentistry

Abstract

Objectives: To systematically review applications of fractal geometry in different aspects of dental practice. In this review, we present a short introduction to fractals and specifically address the following topics: treatment and healing monitoring, dental materials, dental tissue, caries, osteoporosis, periodontitis, cancer, Sjögren's syndrome, diagnosis of several other conditions and a discussion on the reliability of FD determinations from dental radiographs.

Sources: Google Scholar, Ovid MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, etc. (up to August 2010).

Study selection: The review considered original studies, reviews and conference proceedings, published in English or Spanish. Abstracts and posters were not taken into account.

Conclusions: Fractal geometry has found plenty of applications in several branches of dental practice. It provides a way to quantify the complexity of structures. Whereas one desires to study a radiograph, an histological section or the signal from a transducer, there are several methods available to determine the degree of complexity using fractal analysis. Several pathological conditions can alter the complexity of anatomical structures, and this change can be detectable with the help of fractal parameters. Although during the last two decades there have been plenty of works on the field, reported cases having enough reproducibility, with different groups showing similar results are not very common. Further replications are needed before we can establish statistically significant correlations amongst fractal parameters and pathological conditions.