System for archiving, communication and analyzing of 3D dental cast model

Abstract

Dental cast model is necessary tool for orthodontic procedure where the clinician requires displaying and analyzing for the appearance of the patient's teeth before and after treatment. However the dental casts made from plaster of Paris require annual maintenance to check if there are any damages and proper storage for at least 10 years. Therefore, our system for archiving, communication and analyzing of 3D dental cast model has been developed for archiving, delivering and manipulating electronic dental model to the end users. The method combines with the electronic 3D dental model being generated by scanning a dental cast that made from plaster of Paris before storing the electronic dental models in STL and VRML formats in the database which connected to a server-based computing system. Next the 3D electronic models are delivered to a remote client computer over a distributed communication networks, which allowed users to access to the 3D electronic data via web browser or mobile device. Finally, users can manipulate the electronic 3D models at remote client computer, and performs analysis on 3D dental casts by the software tool provided by our system. The attitudes of clinicians toward our system for archiving, communication and analyzing of 3D dental cast model (AnaDent3D) through the assessment on the website and software tool by doing post-test questionnaires are positive. It is concluded that the system for archiving, communication and analyzing of 3D dental cast model is effective in recording, delivering and analyzing of the electronic 3D dental cast data.