Patent ID: 6971873

Claim:
A workstation for orthodontic treatment planning, comprising: a central processing unit; and a memory, said memory storing a set of virtual three-dimensional brackets in the form of a library, each of said brackets in said set having a unique prescription and three-dimensional shape data, wherein said memory further stores an interactive treatment planning program and an original malocclusion three-dimensional virtual model of the dentition of a patient comprising a set of virtual teeth, and wherein said treatment planning program contains a set of instructions enabling an user of said treatment planning in: a) moving said set of virtual teeth to a proposed finish position; b) placing a plurality of virtual brackets selected from said library on a plurality of virtual teeth selected from said set of virtual teeth in said proposed finish position, wherein one virtual bracket is placed at an initial location selected by said user on the surface of one virtual tooth, and wherein each selected virtual bracket has a prescription; c) modifying said prescription of one or more of said virtual brackets selected in step b) and replacing each of said virtual brackets having said prescription modified with a new virtual bracket from said library wherein said new virtual bracket has a prescription that is the closest match to said modified prescription, and wherein the placement of said new virtual bracket on the corresponding virtual tooth is adjusted in accordance with the prescription of said new virtual bracket; and d) designing a customized archwire taking into account said virtual bracket prescriptions and said virtual bracket placements at the end of step c) where in said customized arch wire comprises line segments, bends and twists realized through translational and rotational movements; wherein said memory farther stores a new three-dimensional virtual model of the dentition of said patient acquired during monitoring of the treatment of said patient, and wherein said treatment planning program further contains a set of instructions enabling said user of said treatment planning in precisely quantifying the differences between said new three-dimensional virtual model and said original malocclusion, and the differences between said new three-dimensional virtual model and said proposed finish position; thereby enabling said user in adjusting the course of said treatment.