Patent ID: 7063532

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for use in creating a digital model of a tooth in a patient's dentition, the method comprising: (a) scanning the patient's dentition, or a physical model thereof, to produce a 3 D dataset representing at least a portion of the patient's dentition, including at least a portion of a tooth and gum tissue surrounding the tooth; (b) applying a test to identify data elements lying on a gingival boundary that occurs where the tooth and the gum tissue meet; (c) applying a test to the data elements lying on the boundary to identify other data elements representing portions of the tooth, wherein applying the test to identify data elements on the gingival boundary includes creating an initial 2D plane that intersects the dentition roughly perpendicular to an occiusal plane of the dentition and that includes data elements representing an initial cross-sectional surface of the dentition and wherein applying the test includes locating a cusp in the initial cross-sectional surface.