Patent ID: 11865653
Assignee: VIAX DENTAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  A  Y | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A method for preparing a dental overlay for use with a dental cutting tool in preparing a tooth to be prepared of a patient for restoration, the method comprising:
simulating first movements to be followed by a dental cutting tool in the preparation of a tooth to be prepared in a simulation using a computer-aided design program, the simulated tooth to be prepared being based on three-dimensional data acquired from a dentition of the patient, the simulation defining tooth structure to be removed by the dental cutting tool from the tooth to be prepared; and
producing a dental overlay with an inner surface and a first guiding groove, the inner surface having a shape and dimensions corresponding to and having a concave surface configured for contacting a contact region on and extending at least between respective top and bottom portions of and partially around either one or both of i) an outer surface of the tooth to be prepared and ii) an outer surface of a neighboring tooth of the tooth to be prepared, the respective bottom portion or portions of the respective one or ones of the tooth to be prepared and the neighboring tooth of the tooth to be prepared contacting a gingiva of the patient and the dental overlay being configured to contact the respective bottom portion or portions, the inner surface thereby remaining releasably fixed to the contact region and in a same position relative to the tooth to be prepared upon application of pressure to the dental overlay during contact of the dental cutting tool with the dental overlay in the removal of the defined tooth structure to be removed from the tooth to be prepared in the preparation for the restoration of the tooth to be prepared, and the first guiding groove being configured for contact with the dental cutting tool so as to limit movements to be followed by the dental cutting tool to predetermined movements corresponding to the simulated first movements for removing at least a portion of the defined tooth structure to be removed from the tooth to be prepared.