Identification of the Root Canal and Its Centreline from Dental Cone Beam CT Records

This paper presents a novel image processing procedure dedicated to the automated detection of the medial axis of the root canal from dental cone beam CT records. The 3D model of root canal is built up from several dozens of parallel cross sections, using image enhancement and a fuzzy chain based segmentation algorithm, center point detection in the segmented slice, three dimensional inner surface reconstruction and curve skeleton extraction in three dimensions. The central line of the root canal can finally be approximated as a 3D spline curve. Several visualization methods have been developed using 3D surfaces, planar sections and 3D curves. The proposed procedure can help prepare several kinds of endodontic interventions.