Aerospace technology creates "virtual mouth". (Dentistry).

The marriage of dentistry and aerospace engineering may soon yield new "virtual mouth" technology to help orthodontists and dentists accurately calibrate movement of teeth and precisely design and speed manufacturing of restorations and replacement teeth. Experts in aerospace engineering at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Atlanta, collaborated with dentist Randy Muecke of Atlanta and orthodontist David Leever of Tampa, Fla., to enhance the practitioners' patented DentAART Inc. technology.

Dentists have long sought a way to capture an exact anatomic image of a patient's tooth position and form. DentAART precisely captures that anatomic relationship and creates a unique prescription for use in planning and delivery of facial procedures--restorative, orthodontic, and surgical.

Muecke and Leever brought DentAART to GTRI researchers to confirm Leever's mathematical proof of the technology. Then they contracted with GTRI to develop a digital version of DentAART, including individualized patient functional movement. Jeffrey J. Sitterle, GTRI's chief scientist, an expert in sensing systems and computer simulation, led the research and development efforts.

He and other GTRI experts took the idea further and offered a way to computerize the method and create a system for multiple applications. Measurements made from at least three high-resolution X-rays or a computerized tomography (CT) scan are fed into a computer. Specialized software generates a precise 3D digital image of a patient's mouth.

Based on this 360[degrees] image, dentists can design a complete treatment plan to help them know exactly how they need to move and restore teeth. Then, improvements in materials processing and fabrication can rapidly produce a crown or restoration that dentists simply glue in place. Restorations can be calibrated precisely to the bite pattern of the tooth to be replaced.

The use of this enhanced technology will allow dentists, orthodontists, technicians, and dental labs to design and test treatments virtually in a computer, resulting in treatments that are accurate, fit correctly the first time, and move patients in and out of the chair quickly. This will be a blessing for both the patient and the dentist, Sitterle says.