Systems and methods for generating an appliance with tie points

• US 6,947,038 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2000
• Issued: 09/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Phan, Loc X., Beers, Andrew, Baumrind, Sheldon, Curry, Sean, Anh, Jae H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIMBINH T
• Application Number:
  US09/560,424
• Time in Patent Office: 1,972 Days
• Field of Search: 378/9, 378168-171, 433/2, 345/419
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 9/0053 Optical means or methods, e.g. scanning the teeth by a laser or light beam
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for integrating anatomical information from a plurality of sources of information. The system receives two or more three dimensional (3D) anatomical maps sharing a common plane specified by three or more marker points common to the two or more maps; places one or more marker points on one or more teeth; generates a digital teeth model with the marker points; and aligns the two or more 3D anatomical maps and the teeth model using the marker points

Claims

1. A method for integrating anatomical information from a plurality of sources of information, comprising:

receiving two or more three dimensional (3D) anatomical maps sharing a common plane specified by three or more marker points common to the two or more maps;

placing one or more marker points on one or more teeth;

generating a digital model of the teeth with the marker points; and

aligning the two or more 3D anatomical maps and the digital teeth model using the marker points.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomical information is stereo craniofacial data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the anatomical map is an X-ray map.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the X-ray map is generated using correlated points on X-ray pairs and using y-parallax measurements.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the X-ray information is stereo.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising calibrating one or more X-ray sources.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining a principal distance from an X-ray source to a film plane.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising characterizing internal dimensions of the one or more X-ray sources by locating an X-ray film relative to an X-ray source.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the anatomical map is a 3D image map.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the placing of the markers further comprises wearing a dental appliance with one or more marker points.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each marker is a tie point.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the aligning uses discrete anatomical landmark information.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the aligned maps as an integrated 3D anatomical model.

14. A system, comprising:

an appliance with one or more teeth markers embedded therein wherein each marker is a tie point;

an X-ray camera receiving X-ray information with X-ray marker information;

a three-dimensional digital camera receiving three-dimensional anatomical information with anatomical marker information;

a dental scanner to generate a three-dimensional teeth model with teeth marker information; and

a computer to align the X-ray information, 3D anatomical information, and the 3D teeth model using the marker information.