Interactive orthodontic care system based on intra-oral scanning of teeth

An interactive, orthodontic care system for use at a clinic treating a patient suffering from a malocclusion, comprising:

• a hand-held, intra-oral scanner and associated processing system for capturing images of the dentition of the patient and processing the images to generate a full, virtual, three-dimensional model of the dentition in the malocclusion;
• a workstation having a display, a memory storing the three-dimensional virtual model of the dentition of a patient in a malocclused situation and a processing unit, wherein the memory further stores a plurality of virtual three-dimensional models of orthodontic appliances;
• said workstation processing unit executing software representing an interactive treatment planning and appliance design program by which a user of said workstation may move individual three-dimensional, virtual tooth objects obtained from said virtual model of the dentition to a target situation and retrieve and place—virtual three-dimensional models of orthodontic appliances on said tooth objects, said target situation comprising a three-dimensional virtual model of said teeth at a desired occlusion;
• and
• communications equipment for transmission of digital information representing at least one of said virtual, three-dimensional model of the dentition in the malocclusion, the placement of said virtual three-dimensional models of orthodontic appliances on teeth and said three-dimensional virtual model of said teeth at a desired occlusion to a remotely located precision appliance manufacturing center for manufacturing at least a portion of a customized orthodontic appliance system for the patient.