3D Interactive Virtual Reality System for Dental Radiography Training

The project is a collaboration between Dr Simant Prakoonwit (Department of Creative Technology, Bournemouth University), Dr N. L. Bolstad (Department of Clinical Dentistry, University of Tromsø, Norway) and Dr W Khan, Caspia Research, UK.

Aim: The main aim of this project is to develop a new interactive and immersive VR (virtual reality) system for simulation and visualisation of dental radiography (intra-oral, occlusal and panoramic radiography) training

Objectives:
- To develop a new virtual reality method to interactively display and manipulate 3D volumetric data, representing phantom human heads in real-time.
- To develop a novel method to accurately simulate the projection and display radiographic images from the 3D volumetric data in virtual environment.
- To develop a virtual reality method and system to simulate the complete dental radiography process using a HMD (head mounted display) and gesture recognition.
- To evaluate the system in a real-world situation.

Project Summary
At present, VR has been widely used in entertainment and begun to be adopted in education and training. HMDs are used to produce the feeling of actually being immersed in the virtual world. In the past, HMDs were not commonly available due to high cost. Now, a number of affordable HMDs used for creating immersive environment are commercially available. They offer high-quality virtual environment simulation making the use of such equipment more feasible in education. In simulated dental radiography, the users do not need to repeatedly expose themselves to dangerous X-ray. However, the application of VR is still limited in dental radiography training. Unlike other existing dental radiography training systems, we propose to develop a novel VR system using a new volumetric data processing algorithm and HMD to visualise and ‘immerse’ users in virtual dental radiography process and environment as users would experience in their daily work. Gesture recognition will be employed to interact with the system to mimic the real movements and activities involved in the tasks.

The system assists to improve learning the normal anatomy of skull and its projections. Students should be able to use the system to train correlating 3D head/teeth with the corresponding 3D radiographs and 2D radiographs and train to improve techniques to produce better quality images. Furthermore, it can also prevent mistakes in interpretation of radiograph pictures in the real world.
The proposed system uses off-the-shelf and affordable hardware so that it can be adopted widely in the public.

How to apply: Applications are made via our website using the Apply Online button below. If you have an enquiry about this project please contact us via the Email NOW button below, however your application will only be processed once you have submitted an application form as opposed to emailing your CV to us.

Candidates for funded PhD studentship must demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 4 years.
The PhD Studentships are open to UK, EU and international students. Candidates for a PhD Studentship should demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 4 years and must demonstrate:

• A 1st class honours degree and/or a relevant Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent.If English is not your first language you’ll need IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (with a minimum 6.0 in each component).

In addition to satisfying minimum entry criteria, BU will look closely at the qualities, skills and background of each candidate and what they can bring to their chosen research project in order to ensure successful completion.