Clinician monitors oral lesions in 3-D

Last year’s sessions filled quickly, and this year’s sessions are expected to generate even more interest. The presentation is divided into two parts: Dr. Charles Shuler, dean and professor at the UBC Faculty of Dentistry, will open with an overview on how to approach clinical differential diagnosis of oral lesions. Then, in part two, Ng will project large-screen 3-D images of some of his clinical cases to demonstrate the application of differential diagnosis.

The 3-D portion of the session can run only so long — just like 3-D Hollywood films — to ensure attendees don’t experience motion sickness.

Should people who attended last year step aside and let others attend, or are there good reasons to return?
Eighty percent of the 3-D slides are brand new. They capture the cases that I came across over the past year. I’ve also added cases using 3-D imaging with cone-beam CT scans to enhance radiographic interpretation skills. It was quite amazing that even the CBCT company didn’t realize we could do 3-D projection of CBCT images. I also have included 3-D images from intraoral scanning.

Has your photography technique continued to evolve?
The core concept remains the same, as the principles behind 3-D image capturing haven’t really changed. Because the digital cone-beam CT scan is becoming more utilized in dentistry, I expand on this topic in the presentation.

Have you been able to make 3-D presentations at other meetings or incorporate 3-D presentations into the university classroom settings?
So far, PDC remains the only venue where I use 3-D. But in May this year, I will use this learning style when I present at the California Dental Association meeting in Anaheim (but not at a 3-D venue in Disneyland!). 3-D presentations are quiet challenging in a university classroom setting because of the steep equipment costs. Additionally, preparing 3-D presentation is time consuming. Each 3-D slide takes on average of 10 minute to create in the “dark-room” digital processing and rendering. I actually spend much of the winter holidays preparing the slides.

Will you be using the same projection system as you used at PDC last year?
The system should be the same. We choose to use movie-theatre grade equipment, which means we essentially bring the “Cineplex” to the conference center. The projection is high resolution (but not 4K yet). I hope the size of room is such that we can enable even more people to attend.

Have you had the opportunity to view your images through virtual reality glasses, such as the Zeiss Cinemizer OLED 3D glasses?
As a matter of fact, this is my next projection project. I am already using VR (virtual reality) glasses to test out the images. I think such glasses would be a good alternative for small-group learning.

Are you still experimenting with 3-D photography with tissue-fluorescence technology? Any advancements there in clinical-setting technique?
No success yet for 3-D. But I have been working closely with tissue-fluorescence group to work on a picture capture device and workflow so that any clinician should be able to take pictures with one hand. I suspect once I twist such a system even more, I will be able to take 3-D tissue-fluorescence images with one hand as well (so patients do not have to experience any sort of extra set-up time).

Are you being approached by fellow clinicians interested in duplicating your use of 3-D photography to monitor patients’ lesions?
There are indeed a few clinicians out there who are interested, but once they find out how much time and effort is needed — as well as how much equipment, computer hardware and software is needed, they tend to bail out.