A device for detecting jaw relation data that includes three moveable and interconnected elongated elements: the first extends in a ventral direction and is secured to an upper jaw bearing element; the second extends in a transversal and caudal direction relative to the first; the third extends in the transverse and dorsal direction relative to the second. The second or third elongated element may be configured to be supported on at least one surface of one or more lower jaw tooth crowns or to be arranged at a distance from these crowns in a capturable manner together with the lower jaw tooth crowns by a digital capturing device. A method for detecting jaw relation data may use such a device along with a scanner. Markings on the device may be detected by the scanner to uniquely detect positions of the elongated elements to ascertain jaw relation positions.

The invention relates to manufacturing a surgical guide to be placed in a patient's mouth. The patient's mouth is scanned to obtain surgical-region scan data at a region where an implant is to be located. The patient's mouth is also scanned in the opened position to acquire dental conditions opposite from the surgical region so as to obtain opposing-condition scan data. A virtual model is developed using the surgical-region scan data and the opposing-condition scan data. Using the virtual model, a surgical plan is developed that includes the location of the implant to be installed in the patient. A virtual surgical guide is also developed based on the surgical plan. The dimensions of instrumentation to be used with the surgical guide are checked to ensure they will tit within the mouth by use of the opposing-condition scan data. After checking, final surgical-guide manufacturing information is obtained for manufacturing the surgical guide.

Computer-implemented methods of designing dental restorations and systems for performing the described methods are provided. In an embodiment, a method includes providing a virtual three dimensional representation of at least a portion of the patient's dentition that includes at least one preparation tooth, identifying a preparation margin on the virtual three dimensional representation, placing an arch form of a virtual tooth library in alignment with the virtual three dimensional representation, and proposing an initial restoration design based upon a tooth design obtained from the virtual tooth library.

An approach is disclosed that involves creating an updated master dental model of a patient's mouth after an implant surgery by aligning new postoperative oral scan data to pre-existing preoperative oral scan data that is more comprehensive (e.g., it includes bite registration). Before surgery a multi-piece stackable surgical guide set is created using the preoperative oral scan data. The surgical guide set is used to facilitate the surgery. After the surgery at least one piece of the surgical guide set is placed back in a patient's mouth and may act as a reference marker because it was created using the preoperative oral scan data, but is also part of the postoperative mouth configuration since it was used to facilitate the surgery. The affected portion of the mouth may then be digitally scanned directly or indirectly by way of a physical impression with the reference marker in place to determine the new characteristics resulting from the surgery such as new implant installation locations and orientations. The new postoperative oral scan data may be combined with the pre-existing preoperative oral scan data by way of the reference marker (since it is a constant between the two sets of scan data) without having to do such things as take a new bite registration, on which a new implant restoration can be easily created.

A method for displaying a superimposition of a second dental model on a first dental model of a patient's dentition, obtains a first 3D model of the patient's dentition and a segmentation of the first 3D model. A second 3D model of the patient's dentition and a segmentation of the second 3D model are obtained. A selected tooth is identified from the segmented teeth of the first and second 3D models. A post-treatment target position for the selected tooth of the first 3D model is determined according to a movement indication calculated for the selected tooth. The second 3D model is registered to the first 3D model based on the target position of the at least one selected tooth. An imposition of the second 3D model onto the first 3D model of the patient dentition is displayed.

The present invention simply and accurately measures a position and an orientation of a jaw in an oral cavity of a patient in dental treatment. A dental measuring instrument includes a mounting fixture mounted in an oral cavity of a patient, an arm part connected to the mounting fixture, and extending from the mounting fixture toward outside of the oral cavity of the patient, and a tip part provided on a tip of the arm part, and the arm part is deformable so as to change a position and an orientation of the tip part.

The present invention relates to a method for designing a dental restoration, comprising the steps of determining (S101) a target data set based on a natural tooth which reflects the optical properties and/or the geometry of the natural tooth; generating (S102) a digital tooth model with an internal architecture; rendering (S103) the digital tooth model based on the internal architecture to generate an actual data set representing the optical properties and/or the geometry of the digital tooth model; calculating (S104) a deviation between the target data set and the actual data set; and iteratively altering (S105) the digital tooth model to obtain a smaller deviation between the detected target data set and the actual data set of the re-rendered digital tooth model.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a dental restoration, comprising the steps of: generating (S101) a digital tooth model having a first spatial region in which a first restoration material is disposed and a second spatial region in which a second restoration material is disposed; rendering (S102) the digital tooth model to generate an actual data set representing optical properties of the digital tooth model; determining (S103) a deviation between a target data set and the actual data set; altering (S104) at least one of the first spatial region and the second spatial region to obtain a smaller deviation between the detected target data set and the actual data set of the re-rendered digital tooth model; and producing (S105) the dental restoration based on the digital tooth model having the smaller deviation.

The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a dental restoration, comprising the steps of rendering (S101) a first digital tooth model with a first material combination for generating a first actual data set representing the optical properties of the first digital tooth model; determining (S102) a first deviation between a target data set and the first actual data set; rendering (S103) a second digital tooth model based on a second combination of materials to generate a second actual data set representing the optical properties of the second digital tooth model; determining (S104) a second deviation between the target data set and the second actual data set; and fabricating (S105) the dental restoration based on the first digital tooth model when the first deviation is less than the second deviation and fabricating the dental restoration based on the second digital tooth model when the second deviation is less than the first deviation.

The present invention relates to a method for comparing three-dimensional dental structures, comprising the steps of acquiring (S101) a target data set representing the shape and optical properties of a natural tooth; rendering (S102) a digital tooth model (200) to generate an actual data set representing the shape and optical properties of the digital tooth model; determining (S104) a first comparison value from the actual data set; determining (S105) a second comparison value from the target data set; and determining (S106) a deviation based on the first and second comparison values.