Endodontic guided treatment using augmented reality on a head-mounted display system

Endodontic treatment is performed to treat inflamed or infected root canal system of any involved teeth. It is estimated that 22.3 million endodontic procedures are performed annually in the USA. Preparing a proper access cavity before cleaning/shaping (instrumentation) of the root canal system is among the most important steps to achieve a successful treatment outcome. However, accidents such as perforation, gouging, ledge and canal transportation may occur during the procedure because of an improper or incomplete access cavity design. To reduce or prevent these errors in root canal treatments, this Letter introduces an assistive augmented reality (AR) technology on the head-mounted display (HMD). The proposed system provides audiovisual warning and correction in situ on the optical see-through HMD to assist the dentists to prepare access cavity. Interaction of the clinician with the system is via voice commands allowing the bi-manual operation. Also, dentist is able to review tooth radiographs during the procedure without the need to divert attention away from the patient and look at a separate monitor. Experiments are performed to evaluate the accuracy of the measurements. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that an HMD-based AR prototype is introduced for an endodontic procedure.