Diagnostic intraoral methods and apparatuses
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsMichael SABINA, Avi KOPELMAN, Eric KUO, Gilad ELBAZ, Assaf WEISS, Doron MALKA, Ofer SAPHIER, Eliahou Franklin NIZARD, Ido TISHEL, Shai AYAL, Maayan MOSHE
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Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for taking, using and displaying three-dimensional (3D) volumetric models of a patient's dental arch. A 3D volumetric model may include surface (e.g., color) information as well as information on internal structure, such as near-infrared (near-IR) transparency values for internal structures including enamel and dentin.
Claims20
An intraoral scanning system, the system comprising:
- a hand-held wand having at least one image sensor and one or more light sources configured to emit visible light and near-infrared (near-IR) light;
- a display output;
- and
- one or more processors, the one or more processors having a memory configured to store computer-program instructions, that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a computer-implemented method comprising:
- acquiring scan data of the patient's dental arch, wherein the scan data comprises near-infrared (near-IR) scan images and surface scan images;
- generating a two-dimensional (2D) image from the scan data through a region of the patient's dental arch using near-IR transparency values taken from the near-IR scan images so that caries appear darker than enamel in the 2D image;
- and
- displaying the 2D image.
An intraoral scanning system, the system comprising:
- a hand-held wand having at least one image sensor and one or more light sources configured to emit visible light and near-infrared (near-IR) light;
- a display output;
- and
- one or more processors, the one or more processors having a memory configured to store computer-program instructions, that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a computer-implemented method comprising:
- acquiring scan data of the patient's dental arch, wherein the scan data comprises near-infrared (near-IR) scan images and surface scan images;
- mapping near-IR transparency values from the near-IR scan images to invert the near-IR transparency values so that caries appear as darker than enamel in the 2D image;
- generating a 2D image using the mapping;
- and
- displaying the 2D image.
An intraoral scanning system, the system comprising:
- a hand-held wand having at least one image sensor and a light source configured to emit visible light, light causing fluorescence and near-infrared (near-IR) light;
- a display output;
- and
- one or more processors, the one or more processors having a memory configured to store computer-program instructions, that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a computer-implemented method comprising:
- acquiring scan data of the patient's dental arch using the hand-held wand, wherein the scan data comprises near-infrared (near-IR) scan images and surface scan images;
- generating a two-dimensional (2D) image from the scan data;
- and
- displaying, on the display output, the generated 2D image, wherein caries in the generated 2D image appear darker than enamel in the generated 2D image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.