Patent ID: 9626462
Date: 2017-04-18
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61C,G06F,G06K,G06T

Claim:
1. A method for detecting tooth wear, comprising steps of: receiving first and second digital 3D models of teeth, wherein the first digital 3D model was taken a first time, and the second digital 3D model was taken at a second time later than the first time; segmenting the first digital 3D model of teeth to digitally separate individual tooth within the first digital 3D model of teeth and generate a segmented first digital 3D model of teeth, comprising: repeating the segmenting step for the second digital 3D model of teeth to digitally separate individual tooth within the second digital 3D model of teeth and generate a segmented second digital 3D model of teeth; and comparing the segmented first digital 3D model of teeth with the segmented second digital 3D model of teeth to detect tooth wear by determining differences between the segmented first digital 3D model of teeth and the segmented second digital 3D model of teeth where the differences relate to a same tooth, wherein the segmenting step comprises: performing the first segmentation method that over segments at least some of the teeth within the first digital 3D model of teeth and outputs as results the first digital 3D model of teeth with the over segmentation; performing the second segmentation method that classifies some points within the first digital 3D model of teeth as being on an interior of a tooth in the first digital 3D model of teeth and classifies some other points within the first digital 3D model of teeth as being on a boundary between teeth in the first digital 3D model of teeth and outputs as results the first digital 3D model of teeth with the classification; and combining the results of the first and second segmentation methods to generate the segmented first digital 3D model of teeth.