NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AS A METHOD FOR EVALUATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING SMILE ATTRACTIVENESS

Introduction: A drastic increase in the number of published medical papers per year is observed. This makes the identification, analysis and categorization of significant studies a difficult task. Natural (human) Language Processing and text mining are methods, part of the scientific branch computer linguistics that transfer the informational overload from a human to a computer. It enables easier processing and analysis of large volumes of unstructured textual data. Purpose: The current study aims to familiarize researchers working in the field of dentistry with the capabilities of NLP and TM for a quick and concise analysis of large volumes of unstructured textual information and identification of dependencies between different factors important for a given subject. Materials and Methods: To demonstrate the capabilities of text mining, an important topic in the field of dentistry was chosen – factors influencing the esthetics of a smile. The analysis was carried out with “R”- a computer language for statistical processing. A literature search was conducted in the “PubMed” database with key-words – “dental, esthetic and factor”. The resulting abstracts were saved as a local copy, imported and processed. Word frequencies and associations between different terms were analyzed. Results and discussion: Weak to moderate correlation was established between the significant, most frequent terms in the text - “esthetics, „smile“, „arc“, „buccal“, „gingival”, “lip” and “midline”./0.1<r<0.45/ Word combinations and frequencies resulting from the analysis are in agreement with other reported findings. Conclusion: NLP and text mining are valuable tools which decrease the time necessary for analysis of large volumes of data. The results can aid further research with increased accuracy

POSSIBLE APPLICATION OF BIOHPP IN PROSTHETIC DENTISTRY: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Purpose: The aim of this presentation is to summarize the clinical applications of BioHPP (High Performance Polymer) for removable and fixed restorations. Materials and methods: A critical survey was conducted among 299 literature sources related to PEEKs and in particular with BioHPP. Results and discussion: According to the literature in this field the mechanical properties (in particular its elasticity) of BioHPP are closer to those of the dental tissues, and this fact gives an advantage of this material compared to the metal alloys and the ceramics. A variety of procedures have been suggested to condition the surface of BioHPP in order to facilitate its bonding with resin composite cements. In the Prosthetic Dentistry BioHPP is widely used for fixed and removable restorations frameworks fabrication by pressing and by CAD/CAM technology. Conclusion: Nowadays investigations for new abilities of BioHPP use in Prosthodontics are conducted. They are based on combined alternative fixed restorations made of PEEKs and metal alloys