Determination of Abcession Size Using Digital Image Processing to Aide Endodontic Therapy
DETERMINATION OF ABCESSION SIZE USING DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING TO AIDE ENDODONTIC THERAPY
Karthikeyan Karunakaran, Nikil Ravi, Srinevasan MS
Abstract-- Endodontic therapy is a treatment where the infected tooth s cavity is removed completely and filled with gutta-percha .During this therapy the size of the abscission in the root apex is important. If the abscission size is small the dentists call them lesion which can be easily removed during the therapy itself. But if it is large, the therapy won’t be effective & will cause acute pain to the patient .In such a way the abscession must be removed by injecting penicillin for a week. But current techniques cannot discriminate between a lesion and an abscess .Our paper aims at distinguishing these two by astute measurement of their respective sizes using two algorithms –hill climbing algorithm, fuzzy C mean clustering algorithm aided by fundus photograph.
Keywords: Abscission, Fuzzy C, Hill climbing, Endodontic therapy, Lesion, Gutta- percha.
I INTRODUCTION
Human teeth will be more prone to infection if it is void of any care. In the recent past many people are plagued by dental infections. Endodontic therapy (root canal) is used in the elimination of the infection in contaminated tooth. Each tooth has a pulp chamber which usually consists of nerve tissues, blood vessels and cellular entities .Endodontic therapy involves discarding of above mentioned structures, cleaning and filling of the pulp chamber. Gutta –percha (an eugenol base cement). After the therapy the tooth is theoretically dead since it is void of any stimulus. It becomes brittle so the tooth is fitted with an external crown.
But there is another condition which should be checked before performing root canal therapy. Every tooth has a swelling in its root apex. If the swelling is of negligible size, it is referred as lesion in dental terms. If it’s a lesion then no other additional pre-treatment is necessary. But if the swelling is large, then
Karthikeyan Karunakaran, Nikil Ravi, Srinevasan MS
Abstract-- Endodontic therapy is a treatment where the infected tooth s cavity is removed completely and filled with gutta-percha .During this therapy the size of the abscission in the root apex is important. If the abscission size is small the dentists call them lesion which can be easily removed during the therapy itself. But if it is large, the therapy won’t be effective & will cause acute pain to the patient .In such a way the abscession must be removed by injecting penicillin for a week. But current techniques cannot discriminate between a lesion and an abscess .Our paper aims at distinguishing these two by astute measurement of their respective sizes using two algorithms –hill climbing algorithm, fuzzy C mean clustering algorithm aided by fundus photograph.
Keywords: Abscission, Fuzzy C, Hill climbing, Endodontic therapy, Lesion, Gutta- percha.
I INTRODUCTION
Human teeth will be more prone to infection if it is void of any care. In the recent past many people are plagued by dental infections. Endodontic therapy (root canal) is used in the elimination of the infection in contaminated tooth. Each tooth has a pulp chamber which usually consists of nerve tissues, blood vessels and cellular entities .Endodontic therapy involves discarding of above mentioned structures, cleaning and filling of the pulp chamber. Gutta –percha (an eugenol base cement). After the therapy the tooth is theoretically dead since it is void of any stimulus. It becomes brittle so the tooth is fitted with an external crown.
But there is another condition which should be checked before performing root canal therapy. Every tooth has a swelling in its root apex. If the swelling is of negligible size, it is referred as lesion in dental terms. If it’s a lesion then no other additional pre-treatment is necessary. But if the swelling is large, then