Patent Document ID: 8352060
Application ID: 12774222
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for fabricating a dental prosthesis for a patient, comprising: acquiring one or more high resolution digital scanned images of one or more oral structures of said patient using one or more digital image scanning devices, wherein said oral one or more structures comprise maxillary and mandibular bone and dentition of said patient; acquiring one or more three dimensional cone beam X-ray images of hard oral tissues and soft oral tissues of said patient using a cone beam X-ray image device, wherein said one or more three dimensional cone beam X-ray images of said hard oral tissues and said soft oral tissues comprise the maxillary and mandibular bone and dentition, temporomandibular joint, and upper lip and lower lip; integrating said one or more high resolution digital scanned images of said one or more oral structures with said one or more three dimensional cone beam X-ray images of said hard oral tissues and said soft oral tissues of said patient in a three dimensional space to obtain one or more combined three dimensional images of said one or more oral structures of said patient, comprising: analyzing three dimensional image data to digitally accomplish a face bow transfer in said three dimensional space with high accuracy based on said one or more high resolution digital scanned images and said one or more three dimensional cone beam X-ray images, wherein said three dimensional image data comprises accurate three dimensional data of upper jaw in relation to a maxilla, lower jaw, and condyle of said patient; separating three dimensional image data of the lower jaw from three dimensional image data of the upper jaw, wherein said three dimensional image data of said lower jaw comprise lower teeth and said soft oral tissues in a single group to simulate an independent movement of said lower jaw as a rigid body; identifying a plurality of common discrete three dimensional reference data points in said one or more high resolution digital scanned images and said one or more three dimensional cone beam X-ray images, wherein said plurality of common discrete three dimensional reference data points comprise an incisal edge of a same front teeth; and, converting each of said three dimensional image data into said three dimensional space based on said plurality of common discrete three dimensional reference data points; digitally simulating an occlusal relationship between upper oral structures and lower oral structures using said combined three dimensional images for digitally articulating said upper oral structures and said lower oral structures; digitally modeling said dental prosthesis based on said digitally articulated upper oral structures and lower oral structures to generate a digital dental prosthesis model for planning intra-oral positioning and structure of said dental prosthesis; refining said digital dental prosthesis model based on simulated force tests performed for assessing interference between different components of said digital dental prosthesis model with each other and with said one or more oral structures of said patient and retention of said digital dental prosthesis model; creating a prospective dental prosthesis model based on said refined digital dental prosthesis model, wherein said prospective dental prosthesis model is tested for verifying predetermined functions of said prospective dental prosthesis model; and fabricating said dental prosthesis based on said tested and verified prospective dental prosthesis model.