Patent Document ID: 20110255765
Application ID: 13090786
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A system for removing artifacts caused by x-ray reflective materials from an x-ray image of a patient's teeth, the system comprising: an x-ray source; an x-ray detector that captures x-ray images; a surface scanner that captures a surface scan of the patient's teeth; and an image processor that constructs a three-dimensional CT model of the patient's teeth from the x-ray images and a three-dimensional surface model of the patient's teeth from the surface scan, the image processor resizing and orienting at least one of the surface model and the CT model so that the surface model and the CT model are of a same scale and orientation, overlaying the surface model on the CT model, detecting data points in the combined data set that extend beyond a surface of the patient's teeth in the surface model, removing detected data points from the CT model to create an artifact-reduced CT model, and displaying the artifact-reduced CT model.