Relative trajectory-driven virtual dynamic occlusal adjustment for dental restorations

The abnormal occlusal contact can disrupt the coordination and health of the oral jaw system. Therefore, the dynamic adjustment of the occlusal surface is of great significance for assessing the status of occlusal contact and clarifying jaw factors of stomatognathic system diseases. To solve this problem, a trajectory subtraction algorithm based on screw theory to improve the accuracy of the occlusal movement trajectory is proposed in our paper. Driving by the relative trajectory, a virtual dynamic occlusal adjustment system is developed to realize 3D occlusal movement simulating, automatic occluding relation detection, and automatic occlusal adjustment. Furthermore, we adapt an active occlusal adjustment method based on Laplacian deformation to increase the contact areas of the occlusal surface, which can aid dentists to realize the automatic adjustment of the non-interference regions. As a consequence, the proposed subtraction algorithm is feasible and the root-mean-square is 0.097 mm, and the adjusted occlusal surface is more consistent with the natural occlusal morphology. Graphical abstract ᅟ.