Reconstruction of Panoramic Dental Images Through Bézier Function Optimization

Paulo H J Amorim; Thiago F Moraes; Jorge V L Silva; Helio Pedrini; Rui B Ruben

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.00794

Reconstruction of Panoramic Dental Images Through Bézier Function Optimization

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Jul 29:8:794. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00794. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Paulo H J Amorim¹, Thiago F Moraes¹, Jorge V L Silva¹, Helio Pedrini², Rui B Ruben³

Affiliations

¹ Tridimensional Technology Division, Center for Information Technology Renato Archer, Campinas, Brazil.
² Institute of Computing, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
³ CDRsp-ESTG, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal.

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) and X-ray images have been extensively used as a valuable diagnostic tool in dentistry for surgical planning and treatment. Nowadays, dental cone beam CT has been extensively used in dental clinics. Therefore, it is possible to employ three-dimensional (3D) data from the CT to reconstruct a two-dimensional (2D) panoramic dental image that provides a longitudinal view of the mandibular region of the patient, avoiding an additional exposure to X-ray. In this work, we developed a new automatic method for reconstructing 2D panoramic images of the dental arch based on 3D CT images, using Bézier curves and optimization techniques. The proposed method was applied to five patients, some of them with missing teeth, and smooth panoramic images with good contrast were obtained.

Keywords: Bézier curve; computed tomography; dental arch; diagnostic tool; image reconstruction; panoramic image.