Patent Document ID: 9642685
Application ID: 10893721
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of manufacturing a physical model, core, or framework for a dental restoration comprising: (a) establishing one or more first reference position(s) on one or more of a patient's teeth such that all of the patient's teeth can be at least partially imaged; (b) establishing one or more second reference positions on probes of one or more imaging/measuring devices; (c) establishing one or more third reference positions outside an oral cavity of the patient and within a signal receiving distance from the first and second reference positions; (d) linking the first, second and third reference positions in a reference coordinate system; (e) scanning the patient's teeth with a first imaging/measuring device to characterize a surface of at least a portion of each tooth without impressions or cast models; (f) scanning the patient's teeth with a second imaging/measuring device to characterize an internal structure of the teeth; (g) retrieving image data from all the imaging/measuring devices and storing the image data in a data collection device; (h) repeating steps (d), (e), (f), and (g); (i) determining an orientation of the image data from each individual scan from each individual device in the reference coordinate system based on the first, second and third reference positions and superimposing the image data to provide a virtual model of the patient's teeth; (j) using the virtual model of the patient's teeth, designing the dental restoration by generating the physical model, core or framework for the new dental restoration.