Patent ID: 7904308

Claim:
A method for characterizing a dentition of a patient, comprising: accessing a database including one or more reference conditions in each of a plurality of dentition categories, each reference condition including a corresponding first value; determining, using a computer, a similar reference condition to an initial patient condition in each of the plurality of dentition categories by: comparing the initial patient condition in each of the plurality of dentition categories with the one or more reference conditions in each of the plurality of dentition categories; and selecting at least one reference condition in one or more of the plurality of dentition categories that is similar to the initial patient condition in a same dentition category; and generating, using the computer, a patient identifier matrix including a plurality of positions, wherein: each of the plurality of positions corresponds to one of the plurality of dentition categories; and each of the plurality of positions includes a second value equal to the first value of the selected reference condition for the corresponding one of the plurality of dentition categories.