Abstract
Now, tooth contact evaluation is done with visual check in visible area. But the results of visual examinations are too subjective. Therefore, automation and accuracy enhancement of tooth contact evaluations are required. We tried new evaluation of tooth contact in the near-infrared area. Therefore, a near-infrared camera and infrared lights were used in this research. First of all, the evaluation of near-infrared images of tooth contact was done. Second, tooth contact images by image binarization, which is indispensable to automation, were evaluated. Third, boundary part of the tooth contact was extracted by differential operation. Finally, the effectiveness of the tooth contact evaluation proposed in this research was compared with the tooth contact calculated from the tooth surface. As a result, the high S/N images were obtained by using near-infrared area. Moreover, we clarified the effectiveness of new evaluation of tooth contact to examine the automation of tooth contact evaluation.
