Clinical study of Cone Beam CT imaging and 3D reconstruction aided detection accuracy of impacted tooth

The objective is to explore the efficiency and accuracy of the KODAK 9000C Dental Cone Beam CT imaging and 3D reconstruction to detect the impacted tooth and help decide the orthodontic-surgical treatment. 30 patients who were diagnosed to suffer an impacted tooth were selected to have a Cone Beam CT scan. After scanning, we used the technique of image processing and sharpening to make a clear three-dimensional reconstruction model of the impacted tooth. The three-dimensional reconstruction model had collected these medical information including site, extent, shape, and other characteristic features of the impacted tooth. Then we applied the processing technique which could adjust the color of the impacted tooth and the surrounding bone tissue so as to separate them, as the result, we could get a 3D reconstructed visualization image of the impacted tooth. A clinician could study the precise radiographic information about the segmented impacted tooth which helped to decide the orthodontics treatment to pull the impacted tooth back to its anatomical position. All the patients had accepted the orthodontics treatment aided by processed Cone Beam CT 3D reconstruction image and received a satisfying treatment outcome. It was concluded that the digital image processing technique could separate out the impacted tooth successfully and provide the accurate radiographic information to help the clinician decide an optimal orthodontics treatment plan.