Method for the manufacture of dentures and device for carrying out the method
First Claim
1. Apparatus for the manufacture of dentures in which the prepared tooth stump is reproduced in a working model, and a denture suitably conformed to the working model is formed, comprising means forming an optical reproducing device for sweeping over a tooth or tooth stump and providing an electrical output signal of three dimensional surface-information coordinates, a computer for receiving said output signal, and a milling machine operated and controlled by said computer for forming a three dimensional reproduction of said tooth or tooth stump in accordance with said surface-information coordinate signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
For the manufacture of a denture, or artifical teeth, the prepared tooth stump is reproduced as a working model, and the substitute piece, suitably conformed to the working model, is shaped by hand. In order to facilitate the dentist'"'"'s work, and at the same time attain great accuracy, it is provided that reproduction of the tooth stump is accomplished electro-optically in such a manner that surface-information signals corresponding to the tooth stump are generated and are converted in an electronic computer into electrical and/or magnetic control signals with the aid of which a milling machine automatically mills the working model out of a block of material; and/or that the positive substitute piece is milled by the milling machine from a block of material in accordance with control signals which are derived from surface-information signals which are electro-optically derived from the hand-shaped substitute or replacement model. The device for carrying out the method is characterized by an optical reproduction-photographing device for sweeping over the portion of the tooth in question; furthermore, by an electronic computer for sensing and evaluating the surface-information signals generated by a reproducing device, a milling machine, and/or if necessary, a storage apparatus.
674 Citations
16 Claims
- 1. Apparatus for the manufacture of dentures in which the prepared tooth stump is reproduced in a working model, and a denture suitably conformed to the working model is formed, comprising means forming an optical reproducing device for sweeping over a tooth or tooth stump and providing an electrical output signal of three dimensional surface-information coordinates, a computer for receiving said output signal, and a milling machine operated and controlled by said computer for forming a three dimensional reproduction of said tooth or tooth stump in accordance with said surface-information coordinate signals.
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5. A method useful in the manufacture of dentures in which a prepared tooth stump is reproduced in a working model and a final denture or a temporary replacement piece is suitably conformed to the working model, including the steps of
(a) providing electro-optically produced three-dimensional surface information corresponding to the tooth stump, (b) converting said electro-optically produced information corresponding to the tooth stump by a computer into coordinate control signals, and (c) operating a milling machine automatically from said control signals to reproduce the working model of the stump from a block of material.
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13. The method for the manufacture of dentures in which a prepared tooth stump is reproduced in a working model, and a denture or replacement piece is suitably conformed to the working model, comprising the steps of photogrammetrically deriving surface information of the desired tooth configuration, converting said photogrammetrically supplied surface information to control signals for the operation of a milling machine, and milling the denture or replacement piece from a block of material in accordance with said control signals.
Specification