Application of virtual reality force feedback haptic device for oral implant surgery

Abstract

A novel support system for implant surgery was tried out, which involves manipulating a three-dimensional (3-D) computed tomography (CT) image of a jawbone with a virtual reality force feedback haptic device. Through this virtual system, the haptic experience of bone drilling with vibration and the sound of the contra-angle handpiece could be realized. It is expected to be useful for training inexperienced dentists and educating dental students. The simulation of oral implant insertion was also focused on. A simple cylindrical implant model was inserted into a 3-D image of the jawbone by operating the haptic device, with consideration of bone condition. A rectangular solid object that served as a bone-supported surgical template was adopted, and the shapes of the bone and the implant were subtracted from the object. In this manner, the CAD of the surgical template with impressions of the bone and the implant guide holes for insertion was realized. The surgical template was milled with a computer-controlled milling machine (CAM). Surgical template accuracy was examined with an edentulous gypsum bone model having six holes for implant insertion. Simulation of the oral implant insertion and CAD/CAM of the surgical template were conducted. The milled surgical template was fitted on the gypsum bone model, and CT images were taken. Cross-sections of the guide holes in the surgical template were imaged, and misalignment between the guide holes of the surgical template and the drilled holes on the jawbone was measured. The average misalignment is less than 0.2 mm, and it indicates that the present system is potentially applicable to oral implant surgery.

A fully 3D work context for oral implant planning and simulation

“…Then, the software allows the user to insert implant-simulating cylindrical models in the 3D structure, and to create the stereolithographic file to produce the surgical mask through rapid prototyping. Obviously, the aim of what is described in [10] is mainly focused on the physical simulation of implants insertion to train inexperienced dentists, and just secondarily to be a tool to guide the surgeon during the operation. Actually, it differs from our proposed work starting from the beginning of the approach, since it leaves the three-dimensional reconstruction to a third-party software to achieve the bone model.…”

“…A quite recent software able to provide a 3D representation of the volume, giving the user the possibility to produce a mask to guide the surgical operation is described in [10].…”

A pilot study to assess the feasibility and accuracy of using haptic technology to occlude digital dental models

“…Haptic technology or haptics, is tactile feedback technology which recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user through a haptic device. Haptics has been used in dentistry for training including cavity preparation 12 , implant placement 13 and surgical simulators. 14 The outcome of its use has mainly been assessed from an educational perspective as an adjunct or alterative to actual "live" clinical exposure.…”

Six Degree-of Freedom Haptic Rendering for Dental Implantology Simulation

“…In [15] a discrete marching cube is performed in real-time to evaluate the contact forces. In [16] and [17] they propose a simulation of dental implantology based on FreeForm c software (from Sensable). However, in all these papers, haptic feedback is limited to 3DoF and is derived from elastic contact forces that are similar to penalty forces.…”