Visio-haptic simulation for detection of dental cavity profile

In this paper, a feasible approach for cavity profile detection simulation is presented to help dental students learning skills of cavity diagnosis. The cavity profile is modeled as partitioned meshes with different physical properties. To simulate the realistic feeling stem from stiffness, viscosity and friction, several components of force are introduced when dental tool probing the sound portion and carious sites of teeth. In the process of probing, the force vibration may appear around the cavity boundary. To eliminate the vibration, a locking method is proposed to keep the tool's avatar maintaining its collision status. The experiments show that user can clearly identify the prescribed cavity profile and no force vibration occurs around the boundary. The proposed method can also be extended to the other multi-tissues boundary detection for a stable force feedback.