System and method for facilitating automated dental measurements and diagnostics

• US 20070168152A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Matov, Vadim, Kuo, Eric, Wu, Fuming, Luong, Jenghuei
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/155
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 2007/004 Automatic construction of a set of axes for a tooth or a plurality of teeth
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 7/00 Orthodontics, i.e. obtaining or maintaining the desired position of teeth, e.g. by straightening, evening, regulating, separating, or by correcting malocclusions
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 7/002 Orthodontic computer assisted systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 7/08 Mouthpiece-type retainers or positioners, e.g. for both the lower and upper arch arch-shaped medicament applicators for teeth or gums A61C19/063; mouthguards for protecting the teeth of sportsmen A63B71/085
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

In one embodiment, acquiring a digital model of a patient'"'"'s teeth, automatically detecting reference data or features based on the digital model, and automatically computing dental measurements based on said reference data or features, where the dental measurements are associated with an occlusal characteristic of the patient are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automated dental measurements, comprising:

acquiring a digital model of a patient'"'"'s teeth;

automatically detecting reference data or features based on the digital model; and

automatically computing dental measurements based on said reference data or features;

wherein the dental measurements are associated with an occlusal characteristic of the patient.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein automatically detecting reference data or features comprises automatically establishing reference objects.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein automatically detecting reference data or features comprises automatically establishing reference frames.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein automatically detecting reference data or features comprises automatically detecting anatomical dental features.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein automatically detecting reference data or features comprises automatically constructing orthodontic references.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein automatically establishing reference objects comprises automatically establishing at least one of an occlusal plane, an occlusal surface, a facial axis of clinical crown (FACC), a curve through facial axis points, an embrasure curve, a middle plane of clinical crown (MPCC), a facial axis line (FA-line), a facial plane of the clinical crown (FPCC), a facial normal line (FN-line), a center of resistance, an arch form curve, an arch form template, or an arch form ideal curve.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the automatic establishing of reference frames comprises the establishing of frames to automatically determine the extent of movement of teeth.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 7, wherein the automatic establishing of reference frames comprises the establishing of frames based on the FACC for each tooth.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein the automatic detecting anatomical dental features comprises the detection of at least one of cusps, ridges, grooves, and contact points for each tooth.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5, wherein the automatic constructing of orthodontic references comprises the constructing of abstract landmarks.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the occlusal characteristic includes one or more of an overjet, an overbite, or a midline discrepancy.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein said method further comprises automatic detection of the occlusal characteristic based on said dental measurements.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the automatic computation of orthodontic indices based on said dental measurements.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the automatic computation of a PAR index based on said dental measurements.

15. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, further including generating an instruction set associated with a configuration of sequential aligners for an orthodontic treatment.

16. The computer implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the instruction set is generated based on the computed dental measurements.

17. An apparatus for performing automated dental measurements, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to acquire a digital model of the patient'"'"'s teeth, automatically detect reference data or features based on said digital model, and automatically compute dental measurements based on said reference data or features, wherein the dental measurements are associated with an occlusal characteristic of the patient.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically detect reference data or features by automatically establishing reference objects.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically detect reference data or features by automatically establishing reference frames.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically detect reference data or features by automatically detecting anatomical dental features.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically detect reference data or features by automatically constructing orthodontic references.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically establish reference objects by automatically establishing at least one of an occlusal plane, an occlusal surface, a facial axis of clinical crown (FACC), a curve through facial axis points, an embrasure curve, a middle plane of clinical crown (MPCC), a facial axis (FA) line, a facial plane of the clinical crown (FPCC), a facial normal (FN) line, a center of resistance, an arch form curve, an arch form template, or an arch form ideal curve.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said computerized modeling system is configured for the automatic establishing of reference frames by establishing of frames based on the FACC for each tooth.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to the automatically detect anatomical dental features by detecting of at least one of cusps, ridges, grooves, or contact points of a tooth.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically construct orthodontic references by constructing of occlusal planes and arch boxes.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the dental measurements are associated with one or more of an overjet, an overbite, or a midline discrepancy.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically detect a malocclusion based on said dental measurements.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory is further configured for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to automatically compute orthodontic indices based on the dental measurements.

29. One or more storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method for automated dental measurements, the method comprising:

acquiring a digital model of a patient'"'"'s teeth;

automatically detecting reference data or features based on the digital model; and

automatically computing dental measurements based on said reference data or features, wherein the dental measurements are associated with an occlusal characteristic of the patient.