Patent ID: 7362890

Claim:
A method for constructing a 3-D model incorporating and aligning 3-D scan image data of a maxillar dental arch and of an opposing mandibular dental arch, said method comprising: (a) disposing a number of recognition features adjacent the surfaces of each of the maxillar and mandibular dental arches sufficient to permit determination of the respective positions and orientations of those dental arches thereby associating recognition features with each of said dental arches; (b) individually 3-dimensionally scanning said arches to obtain 3-D image data encompassing and representing topographical features of said dental arches and to capture the recognition features associated with each of said dental arches; (c) placing said maxillar dental arch and said mandibular dental arch in an occlusal relationship and 3-dimensionally scanning said dental arches to obtain 3-D image data encompassing, for each of said arches, the recognition features also captured in said individual scans and associated with each of said dental arches; and (d) processing said 3-D image data and constructing a 3-D model wherein a corresponding maxillar dental arch representation is accurately aligned with a corresponding mandibular dental arch representation.