Automated diagnosis of craniofacial pain.

The complexity of, and rapid advances in, modern dentistry preclude the possibility that the practicing dentist will be knowledgeable of the myriad of diagnostic techniques at his disposal. A large patient load and the demands of office administration force the dentist to use expeditious methods for deriving patient diagnoses. Unfortunately, under the pressure of time, test results may be misinterpreted or diagnostic alternatives overlooked. If an automated diagnostic technique can be effectively applied to oral diagnosis, its use as an auxiliary to the dentist's traditional procedures can help to eliminate cases of misinterpretation or omission. Studies have been initiated to develop a complete system of mechanized oral diagnosis. The diagnostic area to be considered in the study will be outlined and the dental data vector used to describe each patient will be presented. A pattern recognition model for classifying patient states also will be presented.