APPARATUS FOR REAL-TIME VISUALIZING A MOVEMENT OF A LOWER JAW VERSUS AN UPPER JAW IN A CRANIOMAXILLOFACIAL AREA OF A PATIENT IN DENTAL DIAGNOSTICS

摘要

The present invention relates to an apparatus (20) for real-time visualizing a movement of a lower jaw (12) versus an upper jaw (14) in a craniomaxillofacial area (16) of a patient (18) in dental diagnostics, comprising: an input interface (32) for receiving a two-dimensional image signal (26) of the craniomaxillofacial area of the patient from a camera (40) and a three-dimensional jaw model (28) of the craniomaxillofacial area of the patient being precalculated based on volume data; a registration unit (34) for registering the three-dimensional jaw model with the two-dimensional image signal in a first jaw position of the lower jaw versus the upper jaw and in a second jaw position of the lower jaw versus the upper jaw; an imaging unit (36) for generating a two-dimensional depth-view (30) of the craniomaxillofacial area from the three-dimensional jaw model based on the conducted registrations and the two-dimensional image signal, said two-dimensional depth-view including a structure underlying an image area of the two-dimensional image signal; and an output interface (38) for outputting the two-dimensional depth-view. The present invention further relates to a system (10) and method for real-time visualizing a movement of a lower jaw (12) versus an upper jaw (14) in a craniomaxillofacial area (16) of a patient (18) in dental diagnostics.