A virtual endodontics testbed for training root canal skills

Endodontic treatment is one of the most common dental procedures employed in modern dentistry. Although there have been many works in medical simulation in the past two decades, little research has been done on modeling and simulation of endodontic procedures. This work presents a methodology to design and implement a virtual endodontics test bed for facilitating surgical training of root canal skills. In order to make the system more efficient and effective, the work focuses on the simulation of the most critical step in the entire endodontic procedure, i.e. shaping and cleaning. The paper first proposes a novel approach for estimating filing force and torque by developing a measurement system. Then, a hybrid modeling scheme for endodontic simulation is presented, which consists of a geometric-based endodontic instrument model, a physically-based root canal model, and a parameter identification method for the model.