Method for automatically creating a denture using laser altimetry to create a digital 3-D oral cavity model and using a digital internet connection to a rapid stereolithographic modeling machine

• US 7,153,135 B1
• Filed: 11/14/2000
• Issued: 12/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Richard J. Thomas
• Original Assignee: Richard J. Thomas
• Inventors: Thomas, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lucchesi, Nicholas D.
• Application Number:
  US09/712,081
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 433/71, 433/213, 433/214, 433/223
• US Class Current: 433/213
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1077 Measuring of profiles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4547 Evaluating teeth
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 13/0004 Computer-assisted sizing or machining of dental prostheses
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 13/0013 using stereolithographic techniques
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 9/0053 Optical means or methods, e.g. scanning the teeth by a laser or light beam
• 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

Abstract

A method is presented for rapidly making and delivering directly to a consumer a full upper and/or lower denture on the basis of contemporaneous digital image information laser scanned from the person'"'"'s oral cavity after all respective upper and/or lower teeth have been removed, the delivery of the denture occurring substantially contemporaneously with the creation of the contemporaneous digital image information and optionally including and based on archived digital image information laser scanned from the person'"'"'s oral cavity before all respective upper and/or lower teeth have been removed and digitally stored. According to which this contemporaneous digital image information and archival digital image information of the oral cavity is converted, by means of what is called the rapid prototyping technique and thus with a processing step (20) and a combination of an optional laser scanning step (18) solely for archiving the oral cavity when upper and/or lower teeth are present and a repetition of the laser scanning step (18) at a subsequent time when upper and/or lower teeth have been removed, a pre-selected block of plastic is used in a processing step (26) at a remote rapid modeling facility for receiving and processing digital information to form the block of plastic or like material into a denture of which at least a part is formed to substantially perfectly fit in juxtaposed relationship to the corresponding gums of the consumer. At least, pre-selected outer or non-juxtaposing is selected for manufacture of the denture using an arbitrary archived digital image not derived from the consumer'"'"'s oral cavity image but selected by the consumer for its style, cosmetic characteristics, for example, color of teeth, size and variety of teeth, and/or perceived suitability.

Claims

1. A method of making a disposable dentures made of plastic usable in rapid model prototype manufacturing from digital information corresponding to a part of a human oral cavity wherein the digital information is used to generate information for rapid prototyping of the denture, the method further comprising:

(a) adding to the digital information, additional digital data selected from archive of digital data, which additional data depicts both an upper and a lower denture and which digital information and said additional digital information is based on image information in a form wherein all of said digital data are viewable as a computer generated composite image;

(b) rapid model prototype manufacturing of said dentures using said digital information with the added data to make a matching set of upper and lower dentures wherein the matching set of upper and lower dentures made substantially resembles the digital data viewable as the computer generated composite image; and

(c) further including as part of said step of adding to the digital information, the step of processing at least said artificial image data used in producing said dentures using a CAD programmed computer system wherein a style comprising of shape, color, size, and texture is selected.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said additional digital data comprises a reference point derived from archived actual image digital data, and said archived actual image data being derived at least in part from a laser scan of the oral cavity having a pre-existing set of teeth located substantially in a plane and wherein in the rapid manufacturing process a plastic material is used to create the denture and for making the denture disposable.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the pre-existing set of teeth is a pre-existing artificial denture.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the pre-existing set of teeth comprises natural teeth and partially restored teeth.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the pre-existing set of teeth consists of natural teeth.

2. A method of making disposable dentures made of plastic usable in rapid model prototype manufacturing from digital information corresponding to a part of a human oral cavity wherein the digital information is used to generate information for rapid prototyping of the denture, the method further comprising:

adding additional digital data to the digital information, said additional digital data being selected from an archive of digital data, which additional data depicts an upper and a lower denture, said additional digital data being derived from image information acquired by a laser topological image scan of the human oral cavity without teeth therein;

rapid model prototype manufacturing of said dentures using said digital information with the added digital data to make a matching set of upper and lower disposable plastic dentures wherein the non-juxtaposing surfaces of said matching set of upper and lower dentures substantially resembles digital data stored from a laser topological scan image of the human oral cavity for teeth previously therein.

3. In a method of making a denture from digital information corresponding to an image of at least a part of a human oral cavity, said human oral cavity previously containing a plurality of natural teeth at a prior point in time, wherein the digital information is used to generate digital information for manufacturing of the denture, the improvement comprising:

(a) said manufacturing comprising an initial step of scanning and storing a first digital image of said human oral cavity at a first point in time when the oral cavity contains a plurality of natural teeth, said scanning at a first scanning site; and

subsequently at another point forward in time;

(b) said manufacturing further comprising a step of scanning and storing a second digital image of said human oral cavity when the oral cavity no longer contains one or more of said natural teeth at a second scanning site, and subsequently at another point in time and at a remote manufacturing site digitally connected to said second site, said manufacturing further comprising the step of rapid prototype manufacturing of a denture at the remote manufacturing site;

(c) at said prior point in time, preparing and digitally storing a selectable digital image of at least one surface of an actual tooth from a scan of the actual tooth inside the human oral cavity to create a group of actual image digital data;

(d) adding to the digital information, additional digital data selected from an archive of digital data selected from a group of digital data consisting of artificial image digital data and actual image digital data, which additional digital data depicts a denture,

(e) last said denture being selected from the group consisting of a full upper denture and a full lower denture, said digital information and said additional digital data being based on image information in a form wherein all of said digital information and said additional data are combined and viewable as a computer generated composite image;

(f) using a plastic material for rapid model prototype manufacturing of at least one full denture using said digital information with the said additional digital data whereby the denture made substantially resembles the digital data viewable as the computer generated composite image;

including using a computer system as a part of said adding to the digital information;

(g) constructing an actual denture using all of said digital information and said additional data combined at a remote rapid modeling facility adapted to receive and use said digital images to rapidly make a disposable denture;

(h) using an overnight delivery service system to deliver said constructed denture from said remote rapid modeling facility to a point of distribution accessible to the denture user; and

,

(i) including processing at least said artificial image data used in producing said denture using a computer system.