Budget Amount *help |
¥3,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
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Research Abstract |
To enable use of intraoral digital X-ray facilities in forensic casework, fixed desktop equipment must be made mobile and portable. All computer software will function adequately via a laptop computer, but the mechanism for radiograph exposure and the synchronisation of circuit signals may require adaptation. This conversion was performed, using an AC adapter with sensor to permit indirect mutual threshold level adjustment and the sytem tsted. The accompanying software did not permit direct Web access. To permit transmission of a full mouth digital X-ray image by email, compression (e.g. JPEG) was carried out after importing the image into editor software. The quality of the recovered images was poor, particularly in the areas of the dental pulp and bone trabeculae. Images of adequate quality were produced when segmented images were exported. In an additional application of this system for forensic casework the authors developed an age estimation method based on the morphometric analysis of the dental root pulp. Extracted lower first and second premolars were used for this study. Digital images of the pulp from buccolingual and mesiodistal aspects were recorded and the root and pulp widths measured at 6 levels on both buccal and mesial surfaces. The ratios between the widths of the pulp and the root were used as variables for multiple regression analysis. The coefficient of multiple regression,r, was 0.89 for the first and 0.82 for second premolars. In a further study, digitl images of the pulp in buccolingual, 45-degree and mesiodistal aspects of upper and lower canines were recorded and similarly analyzed. The coefficient of multiple regression, r, was 0.84 for upper, 0.72 for lower and 0.78 for all canines. In a practical application, digital images of the pulp from the buccolingual aspect only of lower teeth were used for dental age determination. The coefficient of multiple regression, r, was 0.71.
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