Orthodontic appliances including at least partially un-erupted teeth and method of forming them

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• gathering an anatomical tooth identifier of a tooth type, the anatomical tooth identifier forming a basis to identify the tooth type;
• gathering, using the anatomical tooth identifier, a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) virtual representations of a plurality of teeth from a plurality of subjects, each of the plurality of teeth having the tooth type;
• identifying a plurality of virtual surface contours corresponding to surfaces of each of the plurality of 3D virtual representations;
• identifying a plurality of 3D descriptors to parametrically represent the plurality of virtual surface contours according to a plurality of spatial parameters, the plurality of 3D descriptors having descriptor locations in a 3D descriptor space;
• assigning a descriptor distance to each of the plurality of 3D descriptors, the descriptor distance representing a difference between the descriptor location of the each 3D descriptor and the descriptor location of a rest of the plurality of 3D descriptors;
• and
• identifying a representative 3D descriptor for the tooth type using the descriptor distances, the representative 3D descriptor having a minimum distance to the rest of the plurality of 3D descriptors.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory configured to store computer-program instructions, that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a computer-implemented method comprising:
• gathering a first anatomical tooth identifier of an at least partially un-erupted tooth of a patient, the first anatomical tooth identifier forming a basis to identify the at least partially un-erupted tooth;
• identifying a tooth type using the first anatomical tooth identifier;
• gathering a representative 3D descriptor for the tooth type from a plurality of 3D descriptors for the tooth type,
• each of the plurality of 3D descriptors, including the representative 3D descriptor, parametrically representing a plurality of virtual surface contours of the tooth type according to a plurality of spatial parameters,
• the representative 3D descriptor having a minimum distance to other 3D descriptors of the plurality of 3D descriptors in a 3D descriptor space formed of the plurality of 3D descriptors, and
• each of the plurality of 3D descriptors being associated with one of the plurality of 3D virtual representations of a plurality of teeth gathered from a plurality of subjects;
• forming a virtual 3D tooth shape for the at least partially un-erupted tooth using the representative 3D descriptor;
• and
• providing instructions to form at least a portion of a removable orthodontic appliance for the at least partially un-erupted tooth using the 3D tooth shape for the at least partially un-erupted tooth.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory configured to store computer-program instructions, that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a computer-implemented method comprising:
• gathering an anatomical tooth identifier of a tooth type, the anatomical tooth identifier forming a basis to identify the tooth type;
• gathering, using the anatomical tooth identifier, a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) virtual representations of a plurality of teeth from a plurality of subjects, each of the plurality of teeth having the tooth type;
• identifying a plurality of virtual surface contours corresponding to surfaces of each of the plurality of 3D virtual representations;
• identifying a plurality of 3D descriptors to parametrically represent the plurality of virtual surface contours according to a plurality of spatial parameters, the plurality of 3D descriptors having descriptor locations in a 3D descriptor space;
• assigning a descriptor distance to each of the plurality of 3D descriptors, the descriptor distance representing a difference between the descriptor location of the each 3D descriptor and the descriptor location of a rest of the plurality of 3D descriptors;
• and
• identifying a representative 3D descriptor for the tooth type using the descriptor distance, the representative 3D descriptor having a minimum distance to the rest of the plurality of 3D descriptors.