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Technical note: A freeware, equitable approach to dental topographic analysis
Matthew J Morley1, Michael A Berthaume1
1Division of Mechanical Engineering and Design, London South Bank University, London, UK.
Abstract:
Dental topographic analysis has proved a valuable tool for quantifying dental morphology. Established workflows often use proprietary software for pre-processing dental surfaces, rendering the method expensive and inaccessible to many. This study explores the use of freeware pre-processing alternatives. We tested 4 decimation tools and 13 smoothing tools across 7 different freeware packages. Surfaces generated via proprietary software could not be replicated, but it was possible to obtain statistically similar measurements using freeware. Based on this investigation, we propose a freeware workflow for researchers to conduct dental topographic analysis, with the expectation that their results will be comparable to that obtained through proprietary methods.
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