Automatic Ray-Sum Panoramic Synthesis from Cone-Beam CT Data

A panoramic image can be reconstructed from a cone-beam CT (CBCT) dataset to manifest anatomical structures of all teeth in a patient’s mouth in one image. This research proposed a new automatic method to synthesize a ray-sum panoramic image from a dental CBCT dataset. The objective of the proposed method was to create the curve segment over the whole dental arch to instantly generate a ray-sum panoramic image. We applied the proposed algorithm to eighteen datasets, and all processes were computed under the web browser’s environment. From the results, the curve segments were consistently generated for all datasets. The edges of anatomical structures in the panoramic image were enhanced. On average, the computational time was under 5 seconds to compute the large volumetric data sized 500x500x450 voxels. In conclusion, the proposed method was functional for the web application. A raysum panoramic was quickly synthesized, and anatomical structures were clearly displayed in a web browser.