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Pose determination of a cylindrical (dental) implant in three-dimensions from a single two-dimensional radiograph
1Department of Oral Surgery, University of Medical Center, Johames Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany. rschulze@mail.uni-mainz.de
Objectives:
The aim was to develop an analytical algorithm capable of determining localization and orientation of a cylindrical (dental) implant in three-dimensional (3D) space from a single radiographic projection.
Methods:
An algorithm based on analytical geometry is introduced, exploiting the geometrical information inherent in the 2D radiographic shadow of an opaque cylindrical implant (RCC) and recovering the 3D co-ordinates of the RCC's main axis within a 3D Cartesian co-ordinate system. Prerequisites for the method are a known source-to-receptor distance at a known locus within the flat image receptor.
Results:
Accuracy, assessed from a small feasibility experiment in atypical dental radiographic geometry, revealed mean absolute errors for the critical depth co-ordinate ranging between 0.5 mm and 5.39 mm. This translates to a relative depth error ranging from 0.19% to 2.12%.
Conclusions:
Experimental results indicate that the method introduced is capable of providing geometrical information important for a variety of applications. Accuracy has to be enhanced by means of automated image analysis and processing methods.
