Dental plaque assessment lifelogging system using commercial camera for oral healthcare

We present a system for estimating the dental plaque adhesion area using a commercial camera image for oral healthcare via management of the intraoral environment. In recent years, several studies have reported on the relationship between a general disease and a periodontal disease. Such studies mention that normalization of the intraoral environment by tooth brushing is the most important treatment in preventive dentistry. However, evaluation of individual tooth brushing skill is difficult. Some devices for automatically measuring the quantity of dental plaque have already been proposed for the teaching tool of tooth brushing. However, these devices have certain limitations, such as large size, requirement to fix the head position, and limited applicability in daily life. In this study, we propose a method for calculating the dental plaque adhesion area using a commercial camera and an intraoral camera. We also propose an evaluation method for the quantity of adhered dental plaque for replacing the Plaque Control Record (PCR). The relationship between PCR of the front teeth and that of all teeth was investigated by using the proposed method. The experimental results show that the proposed method can estimate the PCR of all teeth from the information of the front tooth. This method is not dependent on a particular camera system, and is applicable with many types of cameras, including smartphones. Therefore, it will be a useful tool in daily use for routine and sustainable management of the intraoral environment.