Patent ID: 8332186

Claim:
A method of generating a model of a real jaw derived from a model jaw, the model jaw being defined by an array of data points, a number of teeth and a number of further teeth, the method comprising: measuring a number of parameters of a number of teeth of the real jaw, the real jaw having a curved jaw line, the number of parameters corresponding to a number of teeth in the model jaw; generating an array of data points defining a first model of the real jaw using a number of the measured parameters; and generating a further model of the real jaw, the step of generating the further model comprising the steps of: aligning the model jaw with the first model of the real jaw; placing a number of teeth represented in the model jaw into positions corresponding to positions of equivalent teeth in the real jaw as defined by the measured parameters; placing a number of the further teeth represented in the model jaw into positions on the first model of the real jaw to represent corresponding teeth in the real object; and adjusting the positions of one or more of the teeth placed on the first model of the real jaw to generate the further model of the real jaw; wherein the step of measuring comprises measuring the parameters using a sensor comprising a six degrees of freedom probe connected to a processor configured to process data received from the sensor.