Patent ID: 11896455
Assignee: DENTAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for generating a digital model of a patient's dentition, the method executed at least in part by a computer and comprising:
acquiring a 3-D digital mesh that is representative of the patient's dentition along a dental arch, wherein the 3-D digital mesh includes braces, teeth, and gingival tissue;
modifying the 3-D digital mesh to generate a digital mesh dentition model by:
(i) processing the 3-D digital mesh and automatically detecting one or more initial bracket positions from the acquired 3-D digital mesh;
(ii) processing the one or more initial bracket positions to identify bracket areas for braces that lie against tooth surfaces;
(iii) identifying one or more brace wires extending between brackets;
(iv) removing one or more brackets and one or more wires from the 3-D digital mesh;
(v) forming a reconstructed tooth surface within the 3-D digital mesh where the one or more brackets have been removed; and

displaying, storing, or transmitting over a network to another computer, the modified 3-D digital mesh as the digital mesh dentition model.