Reliability of a three-dimensional facial camera for dental and medical applications: A pilot study
L. Shiming, M. Srinivasan, R. Mörzinger, M. Lancelle, T. Beeler, M. Gross, B. Solenthaler, V. Fehmer, I. Sailer
Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, Elsevier, 2019, Vol. 122(3), pp. 282-287.
Abstract
Statement of problem. Three-dimensional visualization for pretreatment diagnostics and treatment planning is necessary for surgical and prosthetic rehabilitations. The reliability of a novel 3D facial camera is unclear.
Purpose. The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the reliability of a novel medical facial camera system in capturing the 3D geometry of the face in a single exposure.
Material and methods. Twelve edentulous participants (7 women and 5 men; mean age: 74.6 years) were included, and digital images for facial reconstruction were captured using a custom-made static capturing system (Medusa Static; Disney Research Zurich). Eight extraoral soft-tissue facial landmarks were identified, which included the right outer canthus (OCR), left outer canthus (OCL), right cheilion (CmR), left cheilion (CmL), pronasale nostril tip, subnasale, philtrum, and gnathion (GN). Interlandmark distances of OCR-OCL, OCR-CmR, OCL-CmL, OCR-GN, OCL-GN, CmR-CmL, pronasale nostril tipeGN, and subnasale-GN were measured clinically and then on the 3D digital reconstructions. The absolute differences between the digital and clinical measurements were recorded. The intraclass correlation coefficient was applied to evaluate the reliability of digital measurement and interexaminer reliability.
Results. The mean ±standard deviation difference between the clinical and digital measurements was 1.95 ±0.33 mm. Intraclass correlation coefficients computed for the 2 examiners against clinical measurements were all above 0.5. The interexaminer reliability coefficient of digital measurement was above 0.909.
Conclusions. The 3D facial geometry obtained from the novel medical facial camera system was found to be reliable and clinically acceptable. Inconsistencies in measurements for a few specific facial landmarks may arise, but these can be avoided by thorough examiner calibration before undertaking the digital measurements.
