A Visualization System of Scaler Stroke Motion

Periodontitis is a dental disease from which many people suffer. The most effective treat- ment with it is to remove dental plaque and scale periodically by a scaler. For this purpose, those who wish to be a dentist or a hygienist must take training of scaling and root planing using a jaw model and a scaler. It is, however, difficult for a trainer to evaluate the scaler stroke motion of a trainee, since the end of the scaler in a mouth cannot be observed directly from out of the mouth. This paper proposes a novel method of visualizing the scaler stroke motion in the mouth three-dimensionally by the employment of a camera and a computer. The system is described and an experimental result is shown. Keywords Dental training, scaling, augmented reality, mobile cameras, computer vision.