Patent ID: 8651858

Claim:
A method of developing a 3-D anatomic model of a patient's mouth for use in developing a dental restoration, the method comprising the acts of: receiving a first dataset including data associated with bone tissue and teeth, the first dataset being derived from at least one scan of the inside of the patient's mouth; receiving a second dataset including data associated with a gingival surface, the second dataset being derived from one or more of the at least one scan of the inside of the patient's mouth; merging the first dataset with the second dataset to form a combined dataset; removing overlapping data from the combined dataset to form a modified dataset; after the merging of the datasets, determining a thickness of the soft tissue from the region between the gingival surface and the jawbone; and displaying, on a display, the 3-D anatomic model of the patient's mouth, the 3-D anatomic model including a simulation of the bone tissue, the teeth, the gingival surface, and the gingival tissue between the bone tissue and the gingival surface with the determined thickness.