Software comparison to analyze bone radiomics from high resolution CBCT scans of mandibular condyles.

OBJECTIVES: Radiomics refers to the extraction and analysis of advanced quantitative imaging from medical images to diagnose and/or predict diseases. In the dentistry field, the bone data from mandibular condyles could be computationally analyzed using the voxel information provided by high-resolution CBCT scans to increase the diagnostic power of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) conditions. However, such quantitative information demands innovative computational software, algorithm implementation, and validation. Our study's aim was to compare a newly developed BoneTexture application to two-consolidated software with previous applications in the medical field, Ibex and BoneJ, to extract bone morphometric and textural features from mandibular condyles. METHODS: We used an imaging database of HR-CBCT TMJs scans with an isotropic voxel size of 0.08 mm3 . A single group with 66 distinct mandibular condyles composed the final sample. We calculated 18 variables for bone textural features and 5 for bone morphometric measurements using the Ibex, BoneJ and BoneTexture applications. Spearman correlation and Bland-Altman plot analyses were done to compare the agreement among software. RESULTS: The results showed a high Spearman correlation among the software applications ( r = 0.7-1), with statistical significance for all variables, except Grey Level Non-Uniformity and Short Run Emphasis. The Bland-Altman vertical axis showed, in general, good agreement between the software applications and the horizontal axis showed a narrow average distribution for Correlation, Long Run Emphasis and Long Run High Grey Level Emphasis. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed consistency among the three applications to analyze bone radiomics in high-resolution CBCT. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the applicability of those variables as new bone imaging biomarkers to diagnose bone diseases affecting TMJs.

Automatic quantification framework to detect cracks in teeth.

Studies show that cracked teeth are the third most common cause for tooth loss in industrialized countries. If detected early and accurately, patients can retain their teeth for a longer time. Most cracks are not detected early because of the discontinuous symptoms and lack of good diagnostic tools. Currently used imaging modalities like Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and intraoral radiography often have low sensitivity and do not show cracks clearly. This paper introduces a novel method that can detect, quantify, and localize cracks automatically in high resolution CBCT (hr-CBCT) scans of teeth using steerable wavelets and learning methods. These initial results were created using hr-CBCT scans of a set of healthy teeth and of teeth with simulated longitudinal cracks. The cracks were simulated using multiple orientations. The crack detection was trained on the most significant wavelet coefficients at each scale using a bagged classifier of Support Vector Machines. Our results show high discriminative specificity and sensitivity of this method. The framework aims to be automatic, reproducible, and open-source. Future work will focus on the clinical validation of the proposed techniques on different types of cracks ex-vivo. We believe that this work will ultimately lead to improved tracking and detection of cracks allowing for longer lasting healthy teeth.

Tres variables psicosociales en el dolor crónico bucofacial: primera parte / Three psychosocial variables in chronic orofacial pain: first part

En la última década del siglo XX, la psicología de la salud ha tenido un sólido desarrollo, con lo cual estamos en presencia de un conjunto de oportunidades para aplicar sus hallazgos en disciplinas como la odontología. Esta investigación se justifica, entre otras razones, por la información proporcionada en la Facultad de Odnotología de la UCV, Servicio de Oclusión, el cual reportó un incremento de la consulta motivada por el dolor crónico bucofacial entre los años 1995 a 1998. El dolor crónico deteriora sustancialmente la calidad de vida de los pacientes. Los objetivos de esta investigación son establecer las psibles relaciones entre las conductas del paciente con dolor crónico bucofacial y tres variables psicosociales, utilizando como metodología la aplicación de una entrevista de 7 ítems y 3 escalas psicológicas: escala de I - E de Levenson (1973), revisada y adaptada a la población por Romero García (1977) para medir internalidad total o nivel de predominancia del locus de control interno. Una escala de evaluación de estilos de afrontamientos (estrategia de coping) para medir las conductas del sujeto frente al cuestionario de apoyo social de Dunn y col. (1987). Para ello seleccionamos una muestra de 50 pacientes con dolor crónico bucofacial que acudieron a tres servicios (Clínica de Oclusión de Posgrado, Servicio de Alteracioens Craneomandibulares y Servicio de Cirugía Maxilofacial del Hospital Universitario de Caracas) durante los años 2000 y 2001. Una vez aplicadas las escalas se elaboró el perfil para cada una de las variables (estilos de afrontamiento, predominancia de locus de control y valor de apoyo social percibido). Se aplicó un análisis de correlación producto-momento de Pearson entre las variables mencionadas. Finalmente, a partir de los hallazgos realizamos una serie de recomendaciones para optimizar el tratamiento de los pacientes con dolor crónico bucofacial, con la participación de profesionales de psicología en los servicios de la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad Central de Venzuela.

El paciente difícil en odontología elaboración de un modelo de atributos personales para identificarlo / The difficult patient in dentistry: developing a model of personal characteristics to identificate him

The comunication between the dentist and the patient, or what we have called dentist-patient relationship constitute itself a clue to solve primary problems derived of the profesional practice. In this relationship with patients, the dentist may face what we have called dificult patient. This dificult patient have several behavioral characteristics wich can alter the dentist emotional equilibrium, the capacity of making proper diagnosis and finaly a siccesful tratment may not be obtain as an end result. The dificul patient behavior may be explained by a variety of factors such as: the type of pathology, the office enviroment, the comunity and/ or institution to with the patient belongs, the dentist emotional circunstance and at last the patient life style. In this work, we interview 50 profesional from the metropolitan area with an average of 18 years in practice, each dentist explained situations in wich the patient behavior could be typified as dificult. A number of 202 dificult patient cases were obtained and they were classified into 14 categories. 5 categories presented a higher frequency a)Schedule and/or appoinment timming. 2)Patients not following instructions and/or altering tratment. c)Anxious patients. d)Patients unhappy with their tratment. e)Authoritarian patients or patients without good manners. This 5 categories were present in the 60% of the situations and can be taken as a model with specific behavior al caracteristics as to identify the dificult patient. This is valuable in valuable in order to manage this type of patients and to be succesful

Importancia de la psicología en el ejercicio odontológico: un enfoque del paciente dificil / Psychology importance in the dentistry practice: an approach of dificult patient

Se trata de una investigación acerca de las opiniones que tienen los odontólogos y los estudiantes de Odontología, sobre las necesidades de los conocimientos de Psicología, para el ejercicio profesional con los pacientes y muy particularmente con el denominado paciente dificil. Concluye con una serie de recomendaciones a las Escuelas de Odontología y Psicología