3D facial mask for facial asymmetry diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES

Facial asymmetry is a common problem seen in orthodontic clinics that may affect patient esthetics. In some instances, severe asymmetry that affects patient esthetics may cause psychological issues. An objective method is therefore required to help orthodontists identify asymmetry issues.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We used three-dimensional (3D) facial images and landmark-based anthropometric analysis to construct a 3D facial mask to evaluate asymmetry. The landmark coordinates were transformed using a symmetric 3D face model to evaluate the efficacy of this method. Patients with facial asymmetry were recruited to conduct mirror and overlap analysis to form color maps, which were used to verify the utility of the novel soft tissue landmark-based method.

RESULTS

The preliminary results demonstrated that the asymmetry evaluation method had a similar response rate compared to diagnosis using mirror and overlap 3D images, and could therefore identify 3D asymmetry problems.

CONCLUSIONS

By using 3D facial scans and 3D anthropometric analysis, we developed a preliminary evaluation method that provides objective parameters to clinically evaluate patient facial asymmetry and aid in the diagnosis of asymmetric areas.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

This study presents a novel facial asymmetry diagnostic method that has the potential to aid clinical decisions during problem identification, treatment planning, and efficacy evaluation.