3d Visualization of Dental Data for Virtual Treatment Planning

Dental rehabilitation treatment planning includes the qualitative evaluation of all available data (eg. Panoramic x-rays, periapical x-rays, models of dental arches, intra-oral photographs, periodontal and dental measurements, registrations of occlusal relationships etc.) and choice of the appropriate strategy. For this planning to be effective both accurate 3D geometrical information and proper use of multi-modal / multi-source images are important. Virtual treatment planning could be an important step towards decision making, since it permits the testing of alternative strategies, exploiting the quality of the digital data. In addition, the educational value of such a process is of great significance. In this paper a methodology to 3D reconstruction of dental arches through our developed low-cost prototype laser-scanning device is presented. The derived 3D models, interrelated through the occlusal registrations, are enhanced by texture from panoramic and periapical x-rays, after their photogrammetric processing. At a subsequent phase, the dental 3D data are being projected in a stereo mode, through our low-cost Stereo-3D visualization system. A dual graphics card, two data projectors, and a silver painted screen are used for this, and the whole system operates on developed software and is based on polarization effect.