A Novel Quantitative Method for Tooth Grinding Surface Assessment Using 3D Scanning

Area of Science:

• Dentistry
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Sleep bruxism involves involuntary tooth grinding and clenching.
• Current diagnostic tools for sleep bruxism, like colored splints, have accuracy limitations due to the 3D nature of teeth.
• Existing assessment methods rely on qualitative evaluation or 2D photography, introducing significant errors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, rapid, and quantitative method for assessing tooth grinding surfaces.
• To improve the accuracy of sleep bruxism diagnosis using 3D scanning and mesh processing.
• To provide a cost-effective tool for the initial diagnosis of sleep bruxism.

Main Methods:

• Development of a quantitative assessment method utilizing 3D scanning and mesh processing.
• Production of 18 standardized splints with 8 grinding surfaces each (total 144 surfaces).
• Repeated scanning and analysis (five times) of each splint to assess accuracy and repeatability.

Main Results:

• High accuracy and repeatability demonstrated by an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.998.
• Low variability in measurements, with a maximum standard deviation of 0.63 mm² for repeated measures.
• The proposed method shows appropriate accuracy for diagnostic use.

Conclusions:

• The study presents an innovative, fast, and cost-effective method for the quantitative assessment of tooth grinding.
• This new approach significantly enhances the accuracy of initial sleep bruxism diagnosis.
• The 3D scanning and mesh processing technique offers a superior alternative to current diagnostic methods.