Three-dimensional digitization: method for evaluating morphological differences between teeth.

Abstract

A new comparative method has been developed for evaluating morphological differences between a pair of teeth. This method consists of five steps: 1) digitization of the surface morphology of the teeth, 2) standardization to enable comparison of the teeth on a common axis, 3) reversal of data on one tooth to enable comparison with the opposite tooth, 4) qualitative evaluation by computer graphic superimposition and 5) quantitative evaluation by the set operation. To illustrate its effectiveness, this method was applied to a pair of extracted premolars. Application to the dental crown on a clinical plaster cast was also discussed.