Computer-aided design and 3-dimensional artificial/convolutional neural network for digital partial dental crown synthesis and validation

Abstract The current multiphase, invitro study developed and validated a 3-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D-CNN) to generate partial dental crowns (PDC) for use in restorative dentistry. The effectiveness of desktop laser and intraoral scanners in generating data for the purpose of 3D-CNN was first evaluated (phase 1). There were no significant differences in surface area [t-stat(df) = − 0.01 (10), mean difference = − 0.058, P > 0.99] and volume [t-stat(df) = 0.357(10)]. However, the intraoral scans were chosen for phase 2 as they produced a greater level of volumetric details (343.83 ± 43.52 mm 3 ) compared to desktop laser scanning (322.70 ± 40.15 mm 3 ). In phase 2, 120 tooth preparations were digitally synthesized from intraoral scans,…