Purpose: To establish an effective path to register the operative plan to the real model of mandible made by rapid prototyping (RP) technology.
Methods: Computerize tomography (CT) was performed on 20 patients to create 3D images, and computer aided operation planning information can be merged with the 3D images. Then dental cast was used to fix the signal which can be recognized by the software. The dental cast was transformed to 3D data with a laser scanner and a programmer that run on a personal computer named Rapidform matching the dental cast and the mandible image to generate the virtual image. Then the registration was achieved by video monitoring system.
Results: By using this technology, the virtual image of mandible and the cutting planes both can overlay the real model of mandible made by RP.
Conclusions: This study found an effective way for registration by using dental cast, and this way might be a powerful option for the registration of augmented reality. Supported by Program for Innovation Research Team of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.