Individual Tooth Image Segmentation by Watershed Algorithm

In this study, we propose a novel method to segment an individual tooth region in a true color image. The difference of the intensity in RGB is initially extracted and subsequent morphological reconstruction is applied to minimize the spurious segmentation regions. Multiple seeds in the tooth regions are chosen by searching regional minima and a Sobel-mask edge operations is performed to apply MCWA(Marker-Controlled Watershed Algorithm). As the results of applying MCWA transform for our proposed tooth segmentation algorithm, the individual tooth region can be resolved in a CCD tooth color image.