Virtual Articulator – Aid Simulator at Diagnosis, Pre-Surgical Planning and Monitoring of Bucomaxilofacial Treatment

Abstract

This work presents a system for use in dentistry and medicine, that allows advance in diagnosis and planning of treatments and surgical procedures, in cases that involves the Temporomandibular Joint, TMJ. Construction of Virtual Articulator includes related research areas of computer graphics, virtual reality and medicine and tends to become a new paradigm as a tool because it will simulate and reproduce the movements of the TMJ in a realistic way, allowing a complete analysis of the case under treatment. It is a software which comes to replace and increase in an innovative way the work done by mechanical articulators. Initially Virtual Articulator reconstructs the TMJ virtually, generating a 3D model, starting from exams such as Computed Tomography and Magnetic Ressonance. Once it is obtained a virtual copy of the TMJ, software simulates real mandible movements, with great flexibility and facility of parameterization. Virtual joints model is based on points captured from the motion curve of lower incisor point. Contribution of each muscle in temporomandibular movement is approached from Hill actuators model and the new concept of curves of insertion. It will be possible to analyze in depth a particular case in a diagnostic phase or predict the results of the surgical procedure.