DIGITAL DENTAL EXAMINATION AND DOCUMENTATION

• US 20180078347A1
• Filed: 09/20/2017
• Published: 03/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ulab Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ulab Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: FALKEL, Michael I.
• Granted Patent: US 10,357,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/000094 extracting biological structures
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0005 combining images e.g. side-by-side, superimposed or tiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/24 for the mouth, i.e. stomatoscopes, e.g. with tongue depressors tongue depressors per se A61B13/00; Instruments for opening or keeping open the mouth combined with saliva removers A61C17/00; mouth openers for animals A61D15/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0088 for oral or dental tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4085 Cone-beams
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/51 for dentistry
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 19/04 Measuring instruments specially adapted for dentistry A61C5/44 takes precedence; testing vitality of teeth A61B5/0534; radiation diagnosis specially adapted for dentistry A61B6/51
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 9/004 Means or methods for taking digitized impressions
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 9/0046 Data acquisition means or methods
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for processing and storing acquired data relating to one or more dental conditions. The methods can include acquiring a first oral feature in a first data acquisition using a data acquisition device, determining a first oral feature first reference point from the first data acquisition, diagnosing a first dental condition upon confirming that the first oral feature first reference point is associated with the first dental condition, acquiring the first oral feature in a second data acquisition using the data acquisition device, determining a first oral feature second reference point from the second data acquisition, and tracking the progression of the first dental condition by determining a discrepancy between the first oral feature first and second reference points.

Claims

1. A method of electronically diagnosing and tracking the progression of one or more dental conditions, the method comprising:

acquiring a first oral feature in a first data acquisition using a data acquisition device;

determining a first oral feature first reference point from the first data acquisition, wherein determining the first oral feature first reference point comprises using a processor;

diagnosing a first dental condition upon confirming that the first oral feature first reference point is associated with the first dental condition;

acquiring the first oral feature in a second data acquisition using the data acquisition device;

determining a first oral feature second reference point from the second data acquisition, wherein determining the first oral feature second reference point comprises using the processor; and

tracking the progression of the first dental condition by determining a discrepancy between the first oral feature first and second reference points.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data acquisition device comprises at least one of a scanner, a camera, and an x-ray device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scanner comprises a cone beam computed tomography scanner.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first oral feature first and second reference points each comprises at least one of a dimension, a contact surface, a shape, a color, a shade, a measurement of the first oral feature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first oral feature first and second reference points each comprises an anatomical marker of the first dental condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first dental condition comprises at least one of a structural and functional deterioration of soft and/or hard tissue.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein diagnosing the first dental condition comprises referencing one or more previously determined reference points stored in a memory.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first oral feature first reference point is associated with the first dental condition when a parameter of the first oral feature reference point exceeds a diagnosis threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting user input to simulate treatment of the dental condition.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring a second oral feature in the first data acquisition using the data acquisition device;

determining a second oral feature first reference point from the first data acquisition, wherein determining the second oral feature first reference point comprises using a processor;

diagnosing a second dental condition upon confirming that the second oral feature first reference point is associated with the first and/or second dental condition;

acquiring the second oral feature in the second data acquisition using the data acquisition device;

determining a second oral feature second reference point from the second data acquisition, wherein determining the second oral feature second reference point comprises using the processor; and

tracking the progression of the first and/or second dental conditions by determining a discrepancy between the second oral feature first and second reference points.

11. A method of electronically diagnosing and tracking the progression of one or more dental conditions, the method comprising:

determining a dental condition first reference point and a dental condition second reference point, wherein determining the dental condition first and second reference points comprises processing first and second data sets, respectively, received from a data acquisition device;

diagnosing the dental condition upon confirming that the dental condition first and/or second reference point is associated with the dental condition; and

tracking the progression of the dental condition by determining a discrepancy between the dental condition first and second reference points.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data acquisition device comprises at least one of a scanner, a camera, and an x-ray device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the dental condition first and second reference points each comprises at least one of a dimension, a contact surface, a shape, a color, a shade, a measurement of the dental condition.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the dental condition first and second reference points each comprises an anatomical marker of the dental condition.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the dental condition comprises at least one of a structural and functional deterioration of soft and/or hard tissue.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein diagnosing the dental condition comprises referencing one or more previously determined dental condition reference points stored in a memory.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the dental condition first and second reference points are associated with the dental condition when a parameter of each of the processed first and second data sets exceeds a diagnosis threshold.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising prompting user input to simulate treatment of the dental condition.

19. A dental condition diagnosis and tracking system comprising:

a data acquisition device; and

an examination unit, wherein the examination unit is configured to;

process first and second data sets received from the data acquisition device to determine a dental condition first reference point and a dental condition second reference point, respectively;

diagnose the dental condition upon confirming that the dental condition first and/or second reference point is associated with the dental condition; and

track the progression of the dental condition by determining a discrepancy between the dental condition first and second reference points.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data acquisition device comprises at least one of a scanner, a camera, and an x-ray device.