Software dental software for color mapping and selection of restorative materials aided by computer - Phase 1: determination of colorimetric variation curve of resin compounds

• Grant number: 03/02158-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: December 01, 2003
• End date: December 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Dental Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Osmir Batista de Oliveira Júnior
• Grantee: Osmir Batista de Oliveira Júnior
• Company: Fornazari & Papini Ltda

Abstract

Errors in the empirical selection of colors of esthetic restoration materials are fairly common in dentistry and cause financial and psychological distress to patients, as well as giving rise to doubts concerning the competence of the dental surgeon. The objective of this software is to develop a piece of national software to map tooth color and indicate which restoration materials should be used for the esthetic solution of clinical cases. This software should have advantages such as low cost, guarantee of reliable results, greater productivity and lower level of stress, both for the patient and for the professional. For the preliminary testing of the viability of this proposal, part of the module recognizing the standards will be developed, with the aim of acquiring the specific knowledge for finalizing the software. The company will use the concepts of fuzzy logic, proposed by Zadeh (1960) to determine the variation in colorimetric curve of test samples of resins composed of different manufactures and colors. This sub-model will read pixel by pixel all the images from the test samples and will determine the interval limit (maximum and minimum) for each material tested and will characterize each resin in terms of the greater frequency of pigments present in each of the test samples. The images will be analyzed without conversion to determine the shade/color depth and in grayscale to determine the luminosity curve of each one. (AU)