Photogrammetric Technique for Teeth Occlusion Analysis in Dentistry

Significant number of applications has a demand for measurement of mutual location of two or more adjacent parts. Measuring outer parameters of adjacent parts is relatively simple task. But it is a problem to determine relative attitude of inner surfaces of adjacent parts and to measure given parameters of conjunction. This problem is very important for dentistry where accurate measurements of relative upper and corresponding lower teeth position (occlusion) are essential for efficient treatment. A photogrammetric technique for analysis of jaws positioning and hidden surfaces attitude analysis is proposed. It uses original photogrammetric system for noncontact 3D measurements and surface 3D reconstruction. Two techniques are proposed for jaws 3D models mutual arrangement according their original position in a mouth. The first one is point-based and it allows to determine jaw displacement concerning a set of reference points. The second technique is surface-based and it uses a scan of teeth occlusion for jaws positioning. Both methods provide adequate accuracy for dentistry. * 7, Victorenko str. Moscow, Russia 125319. Phone: +7-499-157-3127, Fax: +7-499-157-3900, e-mail: [email protected]