Standard Orthodontic Appliances with Semi-Custom Bases
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorRichard E. Raby
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for determining orthodontic brackets in order to use standard brackets or a combination of standard and custom brackets. The method determines which teeth in a digital 3D model of teeth have surfaces that will virtually fit to a base of a standard bracket within a tolerance. For those teeth that will virtually fit to one of the standard brackets, each of the teeth are associated with the corresponding standard bracket for later placement of the brackets on the surfaces of the patient's teeth. The method also identifies the teeth in the digital 3D model of teeth that will not virtually fit to a standard bracket, and brackets with custom bases can be designed and made for those teeth.
Claims3
A computer-implemented method of selecting an orthodontic appliance, comprising steps of:
- generating, using a machine learning model, a series of standard appliances each including a base having a different geometry, the generating comprising:
- receiving digital 3D models of at least a portion of teeth from a sample group;
- classifying the digital 3D models into classes of similar shapes;
- and creating digital 3D model representatives for each of the classes, where each digital 3D model representative is an average shape of the shapes in the corresponding class;
- and
- manufacturing each of the standard appliances to build an inventory, wherein each appliance has a different base geometry corresponding to the average shape of a corresponding digital 3D model representative;
- storing 3D digital model representatives of each appliance of the inventory in a virtual library;
- selecting at least a portion of a base of a first appliance from the library;
- virtually fitting the portion of the base to a 3D digital model of at least one tooth surface at a first position and first orientation on the tooth surface;
- evaluating the fit of the appliance to the tooth surface;
- determining whether the fit is within a tolerance;
- wherein if the fit is not within a tolerance, proceeding to
- select at least a portion of a base of a second appliance from the library, wherein the second appliance has a base designed for a different tooth type, designed for a different position on a tooth than the first portion, or designed for a different orientation on a tooth than the first orientation;
- virtually fit the portion of the base to the at least one tooth surface at the first position and the first orientation;
- and evaluating the fit of the second appliance to determine whether the fir is better or worse than the fit of the first orthodontic appliance;
- selecting either the first or second appliance for bonding a base of the selected appliance to a portion of the dental anatomy, and obtaining the selected appliance from the inventory.
A method for manufacturing a set of orthodontic appliances, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating, using a machine learning model, a series of standard appliances each including a bonding base having a different geometry than the others in the series using a machine learning model, the generating comprising:
- receiving digital 3D models of at least a portion of teeth from a sample group;
- classifying the digital 3D models into classes of similar shapes;
- and creating digital 3D model representatives for each of the classes, where each digital 3D model representative is an average shape of the shapes in the corresponding class;
- the generating step further comprising designing an appliance base geometry for each digital 3D model representative, the geometry reflecting the corresponding average shape;
- and
- manufacturing each of the standard appliances to build an inventory, wherein each appliance has a different base geometry corresponding to a corresponding digital 3D model representative.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.