Abstract
The importance of visual aids in communicating clinical examination findings or proposed treatments in dentistry cannot be overstated. Similarly, communicating dental research results with tooth surface-level precision is impractical without visual representations. Here, we present the development, deployment, and two real-life applications of a web-based data visualization informatics pipeline that converts tooth surface-level information to colorized, three-dimensional renderings. The core of the informatics pipeline focuses on texture (UV) mapping of a pre-existing model of the human primary dentition. The 88 individually segmented tooth surfaces receive independent inputs that are represented in colors and textures according to customizable user specifications. The web implementation SculptorHD, deployed on the Google Cloud Platform, can accommodate manually entered or spreadsheet-formatted tooth surface data and allows the customization of color palettes and thresholds, as well as surface textures (e.g., condition-free, caries lesions, stainless steel, or ceramic crowns). Its current implementation enabled the visualization and interpretation of clinical early childhood caries (ECC) subtypes using latent class analysis-derived caries experience summary data. As a demonstration of its potential clinical utility, the tool was also used to simulate the restorative treatment presentation of a severe ECC case, including the use of stainless steel and ceramic crowns. We expect that this publicly available web-based tool can aid clinicians and investigators deliver precise, visual presentations of dental conditions and proposed treatments. The creation of rapidly adjustable lifelike dental models, integrated to existing electronic health records and responsive to new clinical findings or planned for future work, is likely to boost two-way communication between clinicians and their patients.
Highlights
Improved communication has significant potential to improve healthcare; arguably, better informed patients are more likely to be engaged in the management of their health conditions, make more informed and better decisions, and contribute to higher quality of care [1]
Our model includes the twenty teeth in the primary human dentition; these are segmented in 88 individual tooth surfaces, consistent with principles of dental anatomy, conventions of treatment planning and electronic patient records, and requirements of dental documentation
The produced models are directly visualized on the web-app interface, can be downloaded as a gl transmission format file, or be exported to third-party applications for further processing
Summary
Improved communication has significant potential to improve healthcare; arguably, better informed patients are more likely to be engaged in the management of their health conditions, make more informed and better decisions, and contribute to higher quality of care [1]. The efficacy of visual aid-based interventions aiming to improve patient comprehension and education in the context of surgical procedures and chronic disease management has been demonstrated in numerous clinical trials [3,4]. Conventional visual aids such as pictographs [5], video clips [6,7], and physical models [8,9] have long-recognized merits and are useful adjuncts to written information, especially for low literacy individuals and for contexts where visualization is of the essence. Such communication aids are reported to be preferable over printed, written information material (e.g., pamphlets), and may help increase patient satisfaction with the process of informed consent and other aspects of a clinical encounter
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