title: Fast and Accurate Semiautomatic Segmentation of Individual Teeth from Dental CT Images.
abstract: In this paper, we propose a fast and accurate semiautomatic method to effectively distinguish individual teeth from the sockets of teeth in dental CT images. Parameter values of thresholding and shapes of the teeth are propagated to the neighboring slice, based on the separated teeth from reference images. After the propagation of threshold values and shapes of the teeth, the histogram of the current slice was analyzed. The individual teeth are automatically separated and segmented by using seeded region growing. Then, the newly generated separation information is iteratively propagated to the neighboring slice. Our method was validated by ten sets of dental CT scans, and the results were compared with the manually segmented result and conventional methods. The average error of absolute value of volume measurement was 2.29 ± 0.56%, which was more accurate than conventional methods. Boosting up the speed with the multicore processors was shown to be 2.4 times faster than a single core processor. The proposed method identified the individual teeth accurately, demonstrating that it can give dentists substantial assistance during dental surgery.
authors.affiliation: Palette Soft Inc., 599 Kwanak-ro, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Planet SK Planet Co., Ltd., Bundang-gu, 264 Pangyo-ro, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-400, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chankyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Management Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 440-746, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Juneseuk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science & Engineering, Soongsil University, 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-743, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jeongjin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, 599 Kwanak-ro, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yeong-Gil
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008334:Mandible / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003765:Models, Dental; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014070:Tooth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D020390:Tooth Socket / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging