US 6,640,128 B2Granted

Method and device for the navigation-assisted dental treatment

AssigneeBrainlab AG

InventorsStefan Vilsmeier, Rainer Birkenbach

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Abstract

A method for assisting in a dental treatment, wherein: a three-dimensional volume data set for the tooth and/or jaw area of a patient is produced by means of an imaging method, for example tomographic imaging; the tooth and/or jaw area is registered and/or referenced by means of a computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system using the volume data set; instruments and apparatus for treatment are registered and/or referenced relative to said computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system, and positionally tracked; and wherein said navigation and/or tracking system supplies information for assisting and/or guiding the treatment before, during or after the treatment, by means of an output unit. It further concerns a device for implementing the method and the application of the device for assisting in a dental treatment.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method for assisting in a dental treatment, comprising the steps of:

producing a three-dimensional volume data set for a tooth and/or jaw area of a patient by means of an imaging method;
registering and/or referencing the tooth and/or jaw area by means of a computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system using the volume data set;
registering and/or referencing at least one instrument and/or apparatus for treatment relative to the computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system;
tracking the position of the at least one instrument and/or apparatus;
and
supplying from the navigation and/or tracking system information for assisting and guiding the dental treatment by means of an output unit before, during or after the dental treatment;
wherein the tooth and/or jaw area, as well as a desired positional course of an instrument planned to begin with or inter-operatively, are displayed during the treatment on a screen while the actual positional course of the instrument is tracked, a visual and/or acoustic warning signal is outputted when the desired positional course and actual positional course of the instrument deviate, and a new desired positional course is calculated and outnutted when the desired positional course and actual positional course of the instrument deviate.

4 more elements

A device for assisting in a dental treatment, comprising a navigation and/or tracking system which supplies information for assisting and/or guiding the treatment during the treatment by means of an output unit, also instruments and apparatus for treatment which are registered and/or referenced relative to the computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system and positionally tracked, characterized by a device producing a three-dimensional volume data set for the tooth and/or jaw area of a patient by means of an imaging method, and registering and/or referencing the tooth and/or jaw area by means of a computer-assisted navigation and/or tracking system which uses the volume data set, and wherein the output unit is a screen display, on which the tooth and/or jaw area, as well as a desired positional course of an instrument planned to begin with or inter-operatively, is displayed during the treatment, while the actual positional course of the instrument is positionally tracked, and further comprising an output device which outputs a visual and/or acoustic warning signal when the desired positional course and the actual positional course of the instrument deviate, whereupon a new desired positional course can be calculated and displayed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/834,738Filed 13 Apr 2001
Priority: EP 0012728819 Dec 2000
Published: US 2002/0077542 A120 Jun 2002
Granted: 28 Oct 2003
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

A61C 1/084
Positioning or guiding, e.g. of drills: of implanting tools
A61B 34/20
Computer-aided surgery; Manipulators or robots specially adapted for use in surgery: surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding…
A61C 9/0053
Data acquisition means or methods: optical means or methods, e.g. scanning the teeth by a laser or light beam
A61B 6/506
Specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications: for diagnosis of nerves