T-Scan II

Computer analysis of tooth contacts

Computer-aided diagnosis of occlusal disorders and design of dental restorations requires a computerised evaluation of jaw occlusion and chewing ability.

This aspect of dental care is commonly overlooked; ‘occlusion’ meaning how your teeth fit together. When you close your mouth, all of your teeth should ideally fit together. When one tooth hits before the others, if feels ‘higher’ and can lead to tooth breakdown and pain. Here at Smile Dynamics in East Wahroonga, we use computerised occlusal analysis called a T-scan. It is a computerised sensor that measures the timing and forces of your bite and is used in fine tuning tooth contacts.

This requires simulation of the motion of your jaws and characterisation of contacts between the surfaces of teeth. We propose approaches to evaluation of the load on teeth and of the grinding process. These characteristics are derived in interactive time, and are based on distance maps and topological structure of the contact zones.
The proposed approaches are general and usable in applications where modelling of contact between objects with complex geometry is required.