Patent ID: 7835558

Claim:
A method of making a dental restoration comprising: in a dentist's office, shaping a model of the dental restoration by applying a hardening compound in vivo on a tapered recess in a patient's dental tissue, and hardening the compound in situ, removing the model from the patient's mouth, positioning the model between two holding pin members, while the patient is waiting in the dentist's office, obtaining a 3D graphic representation of the positioned model including in sequence effecting a first scanning of the model while rotating the model with the holding pin members around a rotation axis in a first relative orientation, inclining the rotation axis to a second relative orientation, effecting a second scanning of the model while rotating the model with the holding pin members around the rotation axis in the second relative orientation, and assembling data obtained during the first scanning and the second scanning into the 3D graphic representation of the model, selecting a block of durable dental restoration material having a size sufficient to encompass the dental restoration, creating a milling path of the dental restoration for the selected block, based on the 3D graphic representation of the model, positioning the selected block in a mill, and while the patient is still waiting in the dentist's office, milling the positioned block with the mill in accordance with the milling path to obtain the dental restoration.