An Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach to automate the design and production processes of dental crown

Dr Tsoi, Kit Hon   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Emeritus Professor Wang Wen Ping   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Fok Alex SL   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Pow Edmond Ho Nang   (Co-Investigator)

36

2020-09-01

996285

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach to automate the design and production processes of dental crown

Artificial Intelligence, automation, dental crown

Dentistry

Biology and Medicine (M)

17120220

General Research Fund (GRF)

2020

On-going

1 To automate the CAD process by fine-tuning the fatigue model, which is the core information of the new algorithm. Based on our previous studies, we have developed a mathematical model that can generalize and predict the fatigue of different dental CAD/CAM crown materials on human tooth according to various preparations. Now, this research study is going to focus on fine-tuning this FE-fatigue model by obtaining the mechanical properties (static and fatigue biaxial flexural strength (BFS), fracture toughness and microhardness) of CAD/CAM materials. These will generate the core dataset in the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) which will be used as the shape-optimization parameters in the automated CAD algorithm that is based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Project Objective 2). 2 To develop a new computation algorithm based on the fatigue model using the Artificial Intelligence approach. This AI-enabled CAD algorithm will use Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), which is a subclause of supervised learning under machine learning, to ""generate"" the missing crown on the abutment tooth. 500 sets of single missing crown case from the Faculty and Prince Philip Dental Hospital datasets containing the jaw relationship with prepared tooth and adjacent teeth, the opposing jaw, and the designed crown in digital STL format have been identified and collected (400 sets for training and 100 sets for evaluation). Then, the ""generated"" crown will be fed into FEA based on the fine-tuned fatigue test (Project Objective 1) to optimize the crown shape based on the CAD/CAM material properties. 3 To improve the CAM process that can mill and polish the CAD/CAM materials directly into a dental crown. The machining involves milling and the criterial part is the tooling, i.e. milling bits/burs. We have pilot studied and developed a set of milling burs with a new nano-diamond coating (crystalline grain size: 30-50nm) using Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition (HFCVD) technique. The burs have shown an extended life (i.e. less wear), and leaves a glossy finishing surface on the materials after milling. So, using the new nano-diamond coated milling burs is a good approach to fabricate the CAD/CAM crown by one shot (milling and polishing together), and we are going to investigate the optimal tools and conditions in this project with respect to different materials. Besides, this study will compare the fatigue performance on the CAD/CAM crown materials (with the crown designed by the automated CAD algorithm) milling with non-coated burs and coated ones in our previously published model on human pre-molars. This is essential before putting this automated CAD and improved CAM into clinical trial and market.