Cranial Base Superimposition for 3D Evaluation of Soft Tissue Changes

The recent emphasis on soft tissues as the limiting factor in treatment and on soft tissue relationships in establishing the goals of treatment has made 3D analysis of soft tissues more important in diagnosis and treatment planning. It is equally important to be able to detect changes in the facial soft tissues produced by growth and/or treatment. This requires structures of reference for superimposition, and a way to display the changes with quantitative information. This paper outlines a technique for quantifying facial soft tissue changes as viewed in CBCT data, using fully-automated voxel-wise registration of the cranial base surface. The assessment of change of soft tissues is done via calculation of the Euclidean surface distances between the 3D models. Color maps are used for visual assessment of the location and quantification of changes. This methodology allows a detailed examination of soft tissue changes with growth and/or treatment. Because of the lack of stable references with 3D photogrammetry, 3D photography and laser scanning, soft tissue changes cannot be accurately quantified by these methods.