• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• 제41권3호
• /
• pp.85-90
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop an automated software to extract tooth and pulpal area from sectional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, which can guarantee more reproducible, objective and time-saving way to measure pulp/tooth volume ratio. Methods: The software program was developed using MATLAB (MathWorks). To determine the optimal threshold for the region of interest (ROI) extraction, user interface to adjust the threshold for extraction algorithm was added. Default threshold was determined after several trials to make the outline of extracted ROI fitting to the tooth and pulpal outlines. To test the effect of starting point location selected initially in the pulpal area on the final result, pulp/tooth volume ratio was calculated 5 times with different 5 starting points. Results: Navigation interface is composed of image loading, zoom-in, zoom-out, and move tool. ROI extraction process can be shown by check in the option box. Default threshold is adjusted for the extracted tooth area to cover whole tooth including dentin, cementum, and enamel. Of course, the result can be corrected, if necessary, by the examiner as well as by changing the threshold of density of hard tissue. Extracted tooth and pulp area are reconstructed three-dimensional (3D) and pulp/tooth volume ratio is calculated by voxel counting on reconstructed model. The difference between the pulp/tooth volume ratio results from the 5 different extraction starting points was not significant. Conclusions: In further studies based on a large-scale sample, the most proper threshold to present the most significant relationship between age and pulp/tooth volume ratio and the tooth correlated with age the most will be explored. If the software can be improved to use whole CBCT data set rather than just sectional images and to detect pulp canal in the original 3D images generated by CBCT software itself, it will be more promising in practical uses.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• 제53권3호
• /
• pp.221-227
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This study was performed to develop a linear regression model using the pulp-to-tooth volume ratio (PTVR) ratio of the maxillary canine, assessed through cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, to predict chronological age (CA) in Indonesian adults. Materials and Methods: A sample of 99 maxillary canines was collected from patients between 20 and 49.99 years old. These samples were obtained from CBCT scans taken at the Universitas Padjadjaran Dental Hospital in Indonesia between 2018 and 2022. Pulp volume (PV) and tooth volume (TV) were measured using ITK-SNAP, while PTVR was calculated from the PV/TV ratio. Using RStudio, a linear regression was performed to predict CA using PTVR. Additionally, correlation and observer agreement were assessed. Results: The PTVR method demonstrated excellent reproducibility, and a significant correlation was found between the PTVR of the maxillary canine and CA(r= -0.74, P<0.01). The linear regression analysis showed an R² of 0.58, a root mean square error of 5.85, and a mean absolute error of 4.31. Conclusion: Linear regression using the PTVR can be effectively applied to predict CA in Indonesian adults between 20 and 49.99 years of age. As models of this type can be population-specific, recalibration for each population is encouraged. Additionally, future research should explore the use of other teeth, such as molars.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• 제39권2호
• /
• pp.69-77
• /
• 2014

Purpose: It aims to verify the applicability of existing age estimation methods derived from data of foreign population groups to Korean population groups. Moreover it is to suggest a new way applicable to practical age estimation on the basis of newly calculated regression formulae from data of Korean population groups and develop a subsidiarily applicable method to the existing method. Methods: Ratio of pulp cavity to dental crown was calculated by measuring the height and width of dental crowns and pulp cavities at the cervical line from 4,034 first and second upper molars, first and second upper premolars, first and second lower molars and first and second lower premolars on both left and right sides of 400 patients who had been treated in Dental Hospital of Yonsei University College of Dentistry, and regression equations were derived from the values of the ratio. Results: The equation with correlation coefficients the highest among females was as follows: age=$107.96-75.684{\times}{\sharp}17$ TCHI-$53.741{\times}{\sharp}26$ TCVI-$40.664{\times}{\sharp}45$ TCVI-$56.307{\times}{\sharp}46$ TCVI. Randomized anohter Korean female subjects (n=20) are applicated to the new equation. Mean of error of estimate is 10.322 years, standard deviation is 12.852 years. Minimum of error of estimate is 1.018 years, maximum is 21.365 years Conclusions: The error range of age estimation was found to be slightly wider when the existing regression formulae of Drusini were applied to Korean population groups. Also age estimation in females using the ratio of pulp cavity to dental crown measured with the length and width of dental crowns and pulp cavities from maxillomandibular molars was observed to have the highest reliability in the research. However, we consider that advanced equations of regression are needed to apply to both molars and premolars of males and females in the future.