With In Japan, since the number of dialysis patients is increasing due to population aging, this leads to a growing proportion of long-term dialysis cases. Because of this, dialysis related osteoporosis is also on the rise, and complications involving the jawbone are becoming more prevalent. Orthopantomograms (panoramic dental X-rays) are commonly used in visualization around the jawbone for dental screening, however, this has limitations in accurately assessing bone mineral density due to overlapping of anatomical structures during imaging process. In this study, we develop a method for generating a pseudo-orthopantomogram from three-dimensional CT images that reflect Hounsfield Units (HU) with rotational panoramic projection, enabling the evaluation of bone density without being influenced by overlapping of the bone tissue. In the evaluation experiments, qualitative evaluation was performed regarding the alignment and visualization quality between conventional orthopantomograms and the pseudo-orthopantomograms, and we have confirmed the usefulness of the proposed method. In addition, the method has been also applied to a clinical assessment of osteoporosis and the application of DentalSCOPE🄬 have been tested. Bone density assessment with a dental scope was adequately applicable for use in clinical practice.
