Cartesian three-dimensional method to quantify displacements between cone beam computed tomography models

INTRODUCTION: Research in Orthodontics and Oral Surgery has been relying on three-dimensional (3D) models to evaluate treatment results with displacement color map techniques, even though it has important limitations. OBJECTIVES: This study proposed a method of tracking translational movements of 3D objects to evaluate displacements in surfaces with no shape modification. METHODS: Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) data of ten patients were imported to the Dolphin software. A hypothetical virtual surgical plan (randomly defined) was developed in the software and afterwards verified using the proposed method. All the procedures were carried out by two evaluators, in two different time-points, with a 15-day interval. ITK-Snap software was used to generate high quality STL models. Centroid points were automatically generated and their coordinates were compared to confirm if they represented the known displacements simulated. The paired t-test and the Bland-Altman plots were used, as well as the intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Interexaminers and intra-examiner tests showed excellent reliability of the method, with mean displacement measurement error values under 0.1mm. The paired t-test did not show any statistically significant differences. CONCLUSION: The method showed excellent reliability to track the simulated translational displacements of bone segments.