Patent ID: 7080979

Claim:
A system for creating an individual, three-dimensional virtual tooth model representing a tooth found in a dentition assigned to a patient, comprising: a memory storing at least one virtual three-dimensional model of a template object corresponding to a tooth, including a template tooth corresponding to said tooth; a data processing system including a memory storing a virtual three-dimensional model of at least a part of the dentition; wherein said data processing system further comprises software processing said virtual three-dimensional model of at least a part of the dentition and said virtual model of the template object and responsively deriving said individual, three-dimensional, virtual tooth model; wherein said software comprises: 1. a routine superimposing said virtual template object corresponding to a tooth on said virtual model of at least apart of the dentition; 2. a routine drawing vectors from said virtual template object to a surface of said virtual model of the dentition and storing a set of points where said vectors intersect said surface; 3. a routine forming a new surface comprised of said set of points; and 4. a routine filling missing parts of said surface, if any, from said template tooth.