Posted on: December 12, 2019
Boyan Yankov, Georgi Iliev, Dimitar Filchev, Galip Gurel, Braulio Paolucci, Adriano Shayder, Iva Misheva
Abstract: The visagism concept in dentistry tries to achieve the most appropriate smile design for every individual patient. The design is based on facial analysis, the patient’s personality and their preferences, and is calculated and visualized as a teeth configuration. The paper presents VisagiSMile – aesthetic dentistry software which automates the theory of dental visagism. The goal of VisagiSMile is to automate this process of creating aesthetic cases and to eliminate the human factor from the analysis. Based on innovative data mining approach, the software learns to classify patients’ faces correctly and then makes the necessary calculations to produce harmonious teeth configuration which can be further adjusted.
INTRODUCTION
For centuries, the purpose of dentistry is to treat patients by restoring the biological and functional characteristics of the teeth and by achieving a beautiful smile, even beyond the natural forms of the specific dental case. The purpose of aesthetic dentistry is to create beauty and harmony of the smile that meet the desires of the patient. The new revolutionary materials and techniques of treatment allow for restorations with minimal weariness of the oral structure and with a very natural effect [8][11].
One challenge in achieving the most desirable smile for the patient is that the perception of beauty is highly subjective. The constantly increasing patient’s demands have driven aesthetic dentists to relate the treatment results to the previously underestimated individual psychological characteristics of each patient. Even though the achieved results of the treatment meet the technical requirements and all the classical aesthetic rules, patients may not be satisfied if the design does not express their own personalities.
The word “visage” derived from French means face, and thus the term visagism describes the study of the face as to the relation among its elements, traits and its expression. In dental practice the concept of visagism signifies the creation of a customized personal smile design that expresses a person’s sense of identity. The visagism concept is applied in dentistry on three steps, starting with a geometric analysis of the facial type of the patient, then determining the psychological temperament using a questionnaire, and finally taking into account the personal preferences.
The subject of this work is to simplify the process of creating dental visagism cases, to make the concept accessible for dental technicians and to minimize the subjective interpretation by the operator. To achieve this, the visagism concept had to be extended into a measurable and valid rule set and specific software had to be developed, and this software was called VisagiSMile.
Key words: Dental Software, Aesthetic Dentistry, Visagism, Data Mining, Web Application.