Temporomandibular joint movement measurement for precise dental products fabrication

牙科实验室产品的制造，如牙冠、牙桥、可拆卸义齿或种植体，需要牙科技术人员手动制作高精度的复杂零件，从牙医拍摄的患者印记或咬合登记开始。目前获取患者义齿的方法不能测量个体的下颌运动，只能提供静态咬合登记。因此，在牙科实验室生产的插件通常不是完美匹配的，因为不同个体之间颌骨的综合移动差异很大，并且牙科技术人员在制造过程中仍然无法获得。一个直接的后果是，牙医经常花费大量的时间来调整患者口腔中的矫治器。该项目解决了在牙科诊所的操作限制内获取个体的颞下颌关节运动的具体问题，以便牙医准确和有效地测量患者的下颌运动以及他的牙印。通过这些测量，牙齿咬合可以在牙科实验室广泛复制，以便在制造过程中对牙科矫治器进行精细调整。现有的下颌运动采集解决方案依赖于安装在患者身上的机械或电磁传感器，仍然笨重、昂贵，难以在临床环境中使用。我们的目标是开发一种可访问的替代方案，以满足牙科实验室制造工艺的要求。这项研究将了解基于视觉的颌骨运动采集系统的开发，包括摄像机的校准和各种颌骨运动的3D运动估计，必要的信号处理，以及适合应用程序的用户界面的设计。通过与牙科诊所兼容的技术获得个人下颌运动的具体测量结果，将是牙科实验室行业的一项重大成就。根据这笔赠款开发的技术将在牙科诊所和实验室得到采用，提高牙科护理服务的质量，并确保更好地控制牙科用具的生产成本。

The fabrication of dental laboratory products, such as crowns, bridges, removable dentures, or implants, requires that dental technicians manually create complex pieces with high precision, starting from a patient's impression or bite registration taken by a dentist. Current methods to acquire a patient's denture do not measure the individual's jaw movement and provide only a static bite registration. As a result, insertions produced in the dental lab are often not a perfect fit because the comprehensive movement of the jaw varies greatly in between individuals, and remains unavailable to the dental technician for the fabrication process. An immediate consequence is that dentists often spend a significant amount of time to adjust the appliance in the mouth of the patient. This project addresses the specific issue of acquiring the temporomandibular joint movement of an individual within the operational constraints of a dental clinic for a dentist to accurately and efficiently measure a patient's mandibular movement, along with his dental impression. With these measurements, teeth occlusions can be extensively reproduced in the dental lab for the dental appliance to be finely adjusted during the fabrication process. Existing jaw movement acquisition solutions that rely on mechanical or electromagnetic sensors mounted on the patient remain cumbersome, expensive and difficult to use in a clinical context. Our goal is to develop an accessible alternative that addresses the requirements of dental labs fabrication processes. The research will comprehend the development of a vision-based jaw movement acquisition system, including the calibration of cameras and 3D motion estimation for a variety of jaw movements, the necessary signal processing, as well as the design of a user interface to suit the application. Earning access to specific measurements of an individual's jaw movement via a technology compatible with dental clinics will represent a major achievement in the dental labs industry. The technology developed under this grant will find adoption in dental clinics and labs, improving the quality of dental care services, and ensuring a better control of dental appliances production costs.