System and method for mapping a surface

A system for treating a dental or orthodontic patient, comprising, in combination:

• A) a site orthodontic system comprising:
• (a) a hand-held reference independent scanner for obtaining an in-vivo scan of an oral structure of patient, said hand-held reference-independent scanner obtaining a series of overlapping images of a projection pattern reflected off of said oral structure;
• (b) a computer receiving data from said scanner and responsively converting said series of images into three-dimensional frames;
• said computer further having software for (1) automatically determining X and Y coordinates of a potential entry point into a registration algorithm based on a two dimensional analysis of at least two of said images or said frame and attempting registering three-dimensional frames from said images to one another;
• and (2) in the event that registration in (1) is not successful, automatically testing other potential entry points into a registration algorithm and attempting registering three-dimensional frames from said images to one another, said computer further storing a 3D virtual model representing scan data as a result of the registration in (1) or (2);
• said computer further generating, substantially simultaneous with the scanning, said 3D virtual model of the oral structure, said computer displaying the 3D virtual model for a user at the site orthodontic system on a user interface;
• and
• (c) communications apparatus for transmitting said 3-D virtual model to a remote location;
• and
• B) a remote appliance design facility comprising:
• a computer having software for processing said 3-D virtual model from said site orthodontic system and responsively designing an anatomical or orthodontic appliance for treating said patient.

In an orthodontic care system in which patient data including a scan of a patient's oral structure is obtained at a site and forwarded to a remote orthodontic appliance design facility for design or fabrication of a custom orthodontic appliance, the improvement comprising:

• providing a hand-held scanning system comprising a hand-held reference independent scanner capturing a series of individual two-dimensional images of a projection pattern reflecting off of the oral structure, and a computer receiving scan data from said scanner, said computer registering 3-D frames corresponding to said individual two-dimensional images from said scanner to each other to form a virtual three-dimensional model of said oral structure, whereby random relative movement of said scanner relative to said oral structure may occur during scanning lending said scanning able to be performed by a human operator, wherein the computer further comprises software for (1) automatically determining X and Y coordinates of a potential entry point into a registration algorithm based on a two dimensional analysis of at least two of said images or said frames and attempting registering three-dimensional frames from said images to one another;
• and (2) in the event that registration in (1) is not successful, automatically testing other potential entry points into a registration algorithm and attempting registering three-dimensional frames from said images to one another.

A method of fabricating a dental or orthodontic appliance for a patient, comprising the steps of:

• (a) manually scanning an oral structure of a patient with a reference-independent, hand-held scanner, said reference-independent hand-held scanner obtaining a series of overlapping images of a projection pattern reflected off of said oral structure;
• wherein said series of overlapping images are obtained continuously during random movement of said hand-held scanner relative to said oral structure;
• (b) converting said series of overlapping images into three-dimensional frames;
• (c) automatically registering said three-dimensional frames to one another;
• (d) storing a three-dimensional model representing scan data as a result of the registration in step c);
• (e) transmitting said scan data to a first remote location;
• (f) designing with a computer an orthodontic or prosthetic device for the patient at said remote location;
• and
• (g) fabricating said orthodontic or prosthetic device and shipping said orthodontic or prosthetic device to a treatment location for treatment of said patient.

A system for treating a dental or orthodontic patient, comprising, in combination:

• A) a site orthodontic system comprising:
• a) a hand-held reference independent scanner for obtaining an in-vivo scan of an oral structure of patient, said hand-held reference-independent scanner obtaining a series of overlapping images of a projection pattern reflected off of said oral structure;
• b) a computer receiving data from said scanner and responsively converting said series of images into three-dimensional frames;
• said computer further having software enabling said scanner to acquire and process of series of overlapping images obtained continuously during random movement of said hand-held scanner relative to said oral structure, and software for automatically registering three-dimensional frames from said images to one another;
• said computer further storing a 3D virtual model representing scan data as a result of the registration and displaying the 3D virtual model for a user at the site orthodontic system on a user interface;
• and
• c) communications apparatus for transmitting said 3-D virtual model to a remote location;
• and
• B) a remote appliance design facility comprising:
• a computer having software for processing said 3-D virtual model from said site orthodontic system and responsively designing an anatomical or orthodontic appliance for treating said patient.