DIGITALLY-MACHINED SMC DENTAL ARTICLES
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- providing a dental mill blank comprising a self-supporting, malleable, curable (SMC) material;
scanning dentition to obtain a scan result;
processing the scan result to obtain a three-dimensional digital model for controlling a digitally-controlled milling machine;
fabricating a dental article from the dental mill blank using the three-dimensional digital model and the digitally-controlled milling machine; and
curing the dental article to provide a cured dental article.
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Abstract
A dental article is fabricated from an SMC material using three-dimensional data captured from natural dentition to guide a computer-controlled milling machine. The three-dimensional data may include scans of an original tooth structure and a prepared tooth surface to characterize all surfaces of a dental article, or certain features may be created within a computer-assisted design environment taking account of occlusion, proximal contacts, and the like. In addition the model applied to a computer-controlled milling machine may account for shrinkage of the SMC material during any post-milling curing steps in order to ensure an accurate fit to the prepared tooth surface.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing a dental mill blank comprising a self-supporting, malleable, curable (SMC) material; scanning dentition to obtain a scan result; processing the scan result to obtain a three-dimensional digital model for controlling a digitally-controlled milling machine; fabricating a dental article from the dental mill blank using the three-dimensional digital model and the digitally-controlled milling machine; and curing the dental article to provide a cured dental article. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification