This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0080998 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Jun. 22, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a tooth segmentation apparatus and method for a tooth image.
When a dental implant or orthodontic treatment is performed, it is necessary to specify positions and types of teeth. Tooth numbers can be used as clinical information to specify the positions and types of teeth.
In order to assign a tooth number to each tooth in a teeth image such as teeth scan data, it is necessary to find a boundary between the teeth and segment the teeth. A method for calculating the boundary between teeth by solving the Laplace equation based on a user input may be used. In this case, the user creates a mark on the tooth and a large circle including the mark through two clicks per tooth.
Since the two clicks are used per tooth, 56 clicks are required to segment all 28 upper and lower teeth. This can lead to increased working time and increased user fatigue.
Some embodiments of the present invention may provide a tooth segmentation device and method capable of segmenting a tooth region with no or minimal user input.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a tooth segmentation apparatus including a memory configured to store one or more instructions and a processor configured to execute the one or more instructions. By executing the one or more instructions, the processor may detect a boundary box of each tooth from dental scan data in a form of a mesh, set a boundary condition from the boundary box of each tooth, and segment a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth.
In some embodiments, the processor may detect the bounding box of each tooth from the dental scan data based on an object detection model of an artificial neural network.
In some embodiments, the processor may derive a first vertex of the mesh corresponding to a center of the bounding box and a plurality of second vertices of the mesh respectively corresponding to a plurality of vertices of the bounding box, find a length of a predetermined shorted path among a plurality of shortest paths from each of the plurality of second vertices to the first vertex, and assign values of the boundary condition to a plurality of third vertices of the mesh corresponding to the length of the predetermined shortest path from the first vertex.
In some embodiments, the predetermined shortest path may be a longest shortest path among the plurality of shortest paths.
In some embodiments, the processor may segment the tooth region based on a Laplace equation using the values of the boundary condition as an input.
In some embodiments, the processor may generate a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, provide an interface configured to check segmentation of the tooth region of each tooth, and receive an operation for correction of a tooth region requiring correction among the plurality of tooth regions.
In some embodiments, the processor may assign a corresponding color to the tooth region of each tooth, and receive the operation for correction through coloring of the tooth region requiring correction.
In some embodiments, the processor may generate a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, display the plurality of tooth regions, receive a designation for a number of at least one tooth among the plurality of teeth from a user, and automatically numbering remaining teeth among the plurality of teeth based on the number of the at least one tooth.
In some embodiments, the processor may automatically designate the numbers of the remaining teeth according to a clinically used numbering system.
In some embodiments, the processor may provide an interface configured to check a number of each tooth, receive an operation for number correction of a tooth whose number requires correction among the plurality of teeth through the interface, and automatically correct a number of a portion of the plurality of teeth based on the number correction.
In some embodiments, the processor may select the portion of plurality of teeth according to a clinically used numbering system.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a tooth segmentation method performed by a computing device is provided. The tooth segmentation method includes receiving dental scan data in a form of a mesh, detecting a boundary box of each tooth from the dental scan data, setting a boundary condition from the boundary box of each tooth, and segmenting a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth.
In some embodiments, detecting the bounding box may include detecting the bounding box of each tooth from the dental scan data based on an object detection model of an artificial neural network.
In some embodiments, setting the boundary condition may include deriving a first vertex of the mesh corresponding to a center of the bounding box and a plurality of second vertices of the mesh respectively corresponding to a plurality of vertices of the bounding box, finding a length of a predetermined shorted path among a plurality of shortest paths from each of the plurality of second vertices to the first vertex, and assigning values of the boundary condition to a plurality of third vertices of the mesh corresponding to the length of the predetermined shortest path from the first vertex.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation method may further include generating a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, providing an interface configured to check segmentation of the tooth region of each tooth, and receiving an operation for correction of a tooth region requiring correction among the plurality of tooth regions.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation method may further include generating a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, displaying the plurality of tooth regions, receiving a designation for a number of at least one tooth among the plurality of teeth from a user, and automatically numbering remaining teeth among the plurality of teeth based on the number of the at least one tooth.
In some embodiments, automatically designating numbering the remaining teeth may include automatically numbering the remaining teeth according to a clinically used numbering system.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation method may further include providing an interface configured to check a number of each tooth, receiving an operation for number correction of a tooth whose number requires correction among the plurality of teeth through the interface, and automatically correcting a number of a portion of the plurality of teeth based on the number correction.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program executed by a computing device and stored in a non-transitory recording medium is provided. The computer program may cause the computing device to execute receiving dental scan data in a form of a mesh, detecting a boundary box of each tooth from the dental scan data, setting a boundary condition from the boundary box of each tooth, and segmenting a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth.
In some embodiments, the computer program may cause the computing device to execute generating a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, displaying the plurality of tooth regions, receiving a designation for a number of at least one tooth among the plurality of teeth from a user, and automatically numbering remaining teeth among the plurality of teeth based on the number of the at least one tooth.
In the following detailed description, only certain embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, simply by way of illustration. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.
As used herein, a singular form may be intended to include a plural form as well, unless the explicit expression such as “one” or “single” is used.
In flowcharts described with reference to the drawings, the order of operations or steps may be changed, several operations or steps may be merged, a certain operation or step may be divided, and a specific operation or step may not be performed.
Referring to
The input unit 110 receives dental scan data. In some embodiments, the dental scan data may include dental scan data in the form of a mesh. In some embodiments, the dental scan data may be obtained from 3D scan data obtained by scanning a person's oral cavity with an oral scanner. The dental scan data may include data representing a surface of a three-dimensional shape of the oral cavity including teeth in the form of a mesh.
The tooth segmentation unit 120 detects a boundary box of each tooth from the dental scan data, sets a boundary condition from the boundary box of each tooth, and divides a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation apparatus may further include a tooth number designation unit 130. The tooth number designation unit 130 may receive a designation for the number of at least one tooth among a plurality of teeth from a user, and automatically designate the numbers of remaining teeth based on the designated number.
The output unit 140 outputs a tooth region (e.g., mesh) and the tooth number of an individual teeth which has been finally segmented. In some embodiments, the output unit 140 may include a display device and display the tooth region and the tooth number on the display device.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation apparatus may be implemented by a computing device.
Referring to
Next, the tooth segmentation unit sets a boundary condition of each tooth from the extracted boundary box of the corresponding tooth at S220, and segments a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth at S230. The tooth segmentation unit may generate a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data.
In some embodiments, the boundary condition may be a boundary condition for solving the Laplace equation in the mesh, and may be set by assigning a specific value to a selected point on the mesh. In some embodiments, as shown in
The tooth segmentation unit may set a boundary of each tooth (i.e., a boundary between the corresponding tooth and an adjacent tooth and a boundary between the corresponding tooth and the gum) based on the value of the boundary condition of the corresponding tooth, and segment each tooth from the other teeth and the gum at S230. In some embodiments, for each tooth, the tooth segmentation unit may solve the Laplacian equation using the value of the boundary condition as an input to find the boundary of the corresponding tooth as shown in
In some embodiments, the tooth segment may assign an arbitrary color to a region included within the boundary of the tooth, i.e., a region of the individual tooth. In some embodiments, colors assigned to the adjacent teeth may be different from each other.
In some embodiments, the tooth segmentation unit may provide an interface for checking the segmented tooth region at S240, and may, when there is a tooth region that needs to be corrected because the boundary is set incorrectly at S250, receive a user's operation for correcting the tooth region through the interface at S260. The user may check whether there is no error in the tooth region of each tooth through the interface. When there is a tooth region 610 whose boundary is incorrectly set as shown in
When there is no tooth region whose boundary is incorrectly set at S250, the tooth segmentation unit may create a mesh of the individual teeth at S270. In some embodiments, when there is no tooth region whose boundary is incorrectly set at S250, the tooth segmentation unit may receive an input of a user's operation to confirm that there is no tooth region whose boundary is incorrectly set.
According to the above-described embodiments, the user's work can be minimized because the user's input for setting the boundaries of the teeth is not required. Further, since the tooth region can be segmented with the minimum input of the user, the working time (i.e., computing time) can be reduced. Furthermore, providing the interface capable of correcting the incorrectly segmented tooth region can prevent the tooth region from being incorrectly segmented by
Referring to
The tooth number designation unit automatically numbers the remaining teeth based on the tooth number designated by the user at S730. In some embodiments, as shown in
In the example shown in
Next, the tooth number designation unit provides an interface for checking the tooth numbers at S740, and may, when there is a tooth that needs to be corrected because the number is incorrectly assigned at S750, receive a user's operation for correcting the tooth number through the interface at S750,
The tooth number designation unit may automatically number the teeth in the distal direction again based on the tooth whose number has been corrected based on the user's operation at S730. The user may check whether the number assigned to each tooth is incorrect through the interface. As shown in
When there is no tooth to which the number is incorrectly assigned at S750, the tooth number designation unit ends the operation of the tooth number designation. In some embodiments, when there is no tooth to which the number is incorrectly assigned at S750, the tooth number designation unit may receive an input of the user's operation to confirm that there is no tooth to which the number is incorrectly assigned.
According to the above-described embodiments, when the user inputs the number of a certain tooth, the remaining tooth number can be automatically assigned. In addition, providing the interface capable of correcting the incorrectly assigned tooth number can prevent the tooth number from being incorrectly designated.
Hereinafter, an example computing device for implementing a tooth segmentation apparatus or a tooth segmentation method according to various embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to
Referring to
The processor 1210 controls an overall operation of each component of the computing device 1200. The processor 1210 may be implemented with at least one of various processing units such as a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), a microprocessor unit (MPU), a micro controller unit (MCU), and a graphic processing unit (GPU), or may be implemented with parallel processing units. In addition, the processor 1210 may perform operations on a program for executing the above-described tooth segmentation method.
The memory 1220 stores various data, instructions, and/or information. The memory 1220 may load a computer program from the storage device 1230 to execute the above-described tooth segmentation method. The storage device 1230 may non-temporarily store a program. The storage device 1230 may be implemented as a non-volatile memory.
The communication interface 1240 supports wired or wireless Internet communication of the computing device. In addition, the communication interface 1240 may support various communication methods other than Internet communication.
The bus 1250 provides a communication function between the components of the computing device. The bus 1250 may be implemented as various types of buses, such as an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus.
The computer program may include instructions for causing the processor 1210 to execute the tooth segmentation method when loaded into the memory 1220. That is, the processor 1210 may perform the tooth segmentation method by executing the instructions.
In some embodiments, the computer program may include instructions of receiving dental scan data in a form of a mesh, detecting a boundary box of each tooth from the dental scan data, setting a boundary condition from the boundary box of each tooth, and segmenting a tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data based on the boundary condition of each tooth.
In some embodiments, the computer program may include instructions of generating a plurality of tooth regions of a plurality of teeth by segmenting the tooth region of each tooth in the dental scan data, displaying the plurality of tooth regions, receiving a designation for a number of at least one tooth among the plurality of teeth from a user, and automatically numbering remaining teeth among the plurality of teeth based on the number of the at least one tooth.
The tooth segmentation method according to various embodiments may be implemented as a computer-readable program on a computer-readable medium. In one embodiment, the computer-readable medium may include a removable recording medium or a fixed recording medium. In another embodiment, the computer-readable program recorded on the computer-readable medium may be transmitted to another computing device via a network such as the Internet and installed in another computing device, so that the computer program can be executed by another computing device.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2021-0080998 | Jun 2021 | KR | national |