3D Dental Site View Estimation for Accurate Affected Area Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital dentistry methods for assessing dental conditions in 3D models rely heavily on manual navigation, leading to inaccurate and slow inspection of affected areas, hindering efficient communication with patients.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that automatically determines an optimal view direction for affected areas in a 3D model by calculating surface normals and reverse normals based on user input, ensuring accurate and efficient navigation and presentation of dental conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual navigation is used to inspect 3D dental models, then the dentist can control the view direction, but the navigation becomes slow and inaccurate when locating affected areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines the optimal view direction for affected areas without requiring manual navigation by the dentist. The computer system serves itself by calculating surface normals and reverse normals to automatically position the view, eliminating the need for manual screen input and significantly reducing navigation time while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical navigation system (requiring physical screen input, mouse clicks, or touch operations) is replaced with an automated computational system that uses mathematical calculations (surface normal and reverse normal computations) to determine view directions, substituting manual mechanical operations with automated algorithmic processes.
2Reliability
If manual navigation is used for 3D model inspection, then the dentist can interact with the interface, but the orientation and accuracy of presented areas become unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines optimal view directions based on the position representation of affected areas, ensuring reliable and consistent presentation of dental conditions without depending on the variability of manual navigation techniques. The automated process ensures that the same affected area always presents with the same optimal view, improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The unreliable manual navigation process is replaced with a computational geometry-based system that uses surface normal calculations to determine precise view directions. This substitution eliminates the variability and inconsistency inherent in manual navigation while maintaining ease of operation through automated processing.
3Quantity of substance
If the system processes all 3D model areas, then complete data is available, but unnecessary processing increases computational load
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the necessary information by focusing computational processing specifically on affected areas rather than the entire 3D model. By identifying and processing only the position representations corresponding to affected areas, the system reduces unnecessary computational load while maintaining complete and accurate data for those critical regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The computational processing is applied with local quality - intensive processing is concentrated only on affected areas where it is most needed, while other regions of the 3D model receive minimal or no processing. This localized approach ensures high data quality for affected areas while minimizing overall computational resource consumption.
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosure relates to computer-implemented method and system for generating an optimal view direction of an affected area in a 3D model of intra-oral scan data allowing a dental health care professional to inspect and convey dental assessments in an efficient, fast and optimized manner. In more detail the method and system described herein is configured to estimate the optimal view from which an affected area of a dental site may be displayed on a graphical user interface while allowing automated updates of the view direction to bring the affected site into focus of a graphical user interface.