# Grateful to 3D Slicer Community - Our Latest Research Published in BMC Oral Health

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/grateful-to-3d-slicer-community-our-latest-research-published-in-bmc-oral-health/44723>\
**Category:** Success stories\
**Created:** [October 10, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/grateful-to-3d-slicer-community-our-latest-research-published-in-bmc-oral-health/44723 "2025-10-10T20:13:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![manjula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/manjula/32/80981_2.png) [@manjula](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/manjula)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/grateful-to-3d-slicer-community-our-latest-research-published-in-bmc-oral-health/44723/1 "2025-10-10T20:13:56Z")

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Dear 3D Slicer Community,

I’m excited to share our recent publication in BMC Oral Health where 3D Slicer played a crucial role in our research on dental implant osseointegration.

**Publication Details:**  
Toia et al. (2025). “Inter-implant distance correlated to different preparation protocol on cortical bone: an animal study.” BMC Oral Health, 25:1512.

> **[Inter-implant distance correlated to different preparation protocol on...](https://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12903-025-07028-5)**
>
> Background Inter-implant distance (IID) plays a crucial role in maintaining peri-implant bone stability and osseointegration. Narrower IIDs (\< 3 mm) have been associated with increased bone loss, but the threshold varies with implant connection...

**How We Used 3D Slicer:**  
We utilized 3D Slicer’s powerful open-source platform for comprehensive micro-CT data analysis, including:

- 3D volume reconstruction and visualization
- Precise segmentation of bone and implant structures
- Volumetric analysis using the Scalar Volume Statistics module
- Bone volume fraction (BV/TV) quantification in regions of interest
- **Bone mineral density (BMD) analysis** - converting Hounsfield units to BMD values (g/cm³) using calibration phantoms
- Definition and analysis of multiple volumes of interest (inner and outer portions relative to inter-implant distances)

**Study Overview:**  
Our research investigated osseointegration patterns in 64 dental implants across different surgical preparation protocols and inter-implant distances using biomechanical, histomorphometric, and micro-morphometric analyses.

3D Slicer’s versatility and robust analytical capabilities were instrumental in processing high-resolution micro-CT data (10 μm voxel size) and extracting meaningful quantitative measurements that contributed significantly to our findings.

We are grateful for this exceptional open-source tool and the community that continues to develop and support it.

Thank you to the entire 3D Slicer development team!

Best regards,  
Dr. Manjula Herath  
Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon  
Doktorand, Malmö University

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**Author:** ![pieper](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/pieper/32/8_2.png) [@pieper](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/pieper)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/grateful-to-3d-slicer-community-our-latest-research-published-in-bmc-oral-health/44723/2 "2025-10-11T03:07:30Z")

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Awesome work, keep it up!