Work

Motion Tracking-Based Dental Posture Training: Heuristic-Based Assessment and a Comparative Feasibility Study

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Accurate dental working posture is essential for clinical performance and patient safety, yet objective and consistent posture training remains challenging. We present a motion-recognition-based posture assessment approach for dental clinical training that computes posture features from skeletal motion data and applies a rule-based (heuristic) posture assessment module based on predefined clinical criteria to generate posture scores, penalty counts, and warning counts. We conducted a comparative feasibility study with five dental residents (40 sessions total; eight procedure states per participant, 5 min/session). Heuristic-based assessment outputs were compared with specialist video-based ratings using paired nonparametric tests and Bland–Altman analysis. Across pooled sessions (n = 40), the heuristic method yielded lower posture scores than the video-based assessment (89.38 ± 5.21 vs. 97.38 ± 2.99) and higher penalty and warning counts (2.13 ± 1.04 vs. 0.53 ± 0.60; 7.23 ± 3.10 vs. 2.48 ± 1.54). Between-method differences were significant (p < 0.001), and Bland–Altman analysis showed a mean bias of 8.00 points (95% limits of agreement: −1.36 to 17.36), indicating limited session-level interchangeability. The proposed approach shows practical feasibility for quantitative posture recording and training support, but larger validation studies and calibration strategies are needed to improve agreement with reference assessments.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app16136621

Authors: Jun-Seong Kim, Kun-Woo Kim, Hyo-Joon Kim, Seong-Yong Moon

Institutions: Chosun University, Chosun University Dental Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Occupational health in dentistry

Subfield: Medical Laboratory Technology

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896