Disclosed is a method for determining the relative arrangement of patient's jaws in a bite position when the patient's occlusion is not defined by natural teeth alone, where the method comprises a step of obtaining a digital 3D representation comprising both surface data relating to dental tissue in one of the patient's jaws and surface data relating to a scan appliance arranged in relation to the jaw, where the scan appliance is configured for at least partly defining the patient's occlusion.

A dental tray impression system, including at least one of a top denture and a bottom denture, and methods of use thereof. A top denture may include (a) a top dental impression tray including an upper trough on a palatal side and configured such that the upper trough fits adjacent to a top alveolar ridge of a patient's mouth and (b) a top tooth portion configured to removably attach to a cavity side of an anterior end of the top dental impression tray. A bottom denture may include (a) a bottom dental impression tray comprising a lower trough on a mandibular side and configured such that the lower trough fits adjacent to a bottom alveolar ridge of the patient's mouth and (b) a bottom tooth portion configured to removably attach to the cavity side of the anterior end of the bottom dental impression tray.

Method for producing a mockup of a patient's dental cosmetic restoration, characterized in that it comprises a step (E4) of forming a file of digital data representing the dental mockup artificially presenting the restoration intended to be placed in the mouth and worn temporarily over at least part of the patient's dentition, and a step (E5) of fabricating the mockup directly from the file of digital data produced.

A positioning feedback tool for a dental appliance takes the form of a flexible appearance strip for simulating the appearance of an installed dental appliance on a patient wearer. Dental appliances, such as dentures, rest on the gums of a wearer as functional replacements of teeth. The flexible appearance strip has visual images of dental elements (teeth) for replacing the natural teeth, and depict the size, spacing and color of the dental elements in the finished appliance. Dental elements are affixed onto a foundation mold for resembling a natural row of teeth. The foundation mold receives an imprint of the gums of the wearer, and also receives the dental elements to define the placement of the dental elements. Prior to tooth placement in the foundation mold, the flexible appearance strip is disposed against the installed foundation mold so that the patient may visualize the appearance of the finished appliance.

A set of baseline stents of people's teeth of different sizes may be used for a process to create temporary dental coverings. A range of sizes of the baseline stents may range from a smallest size to a largest size. A measurement of a stone-based model formed from a mold taken of the patient's natural teeth and gums may be made using a measurement tool. The measurement may include measuring from a left-side tooth to a corresponding right-side tooth. In an embodiment, unique identifiers (e.g., “A”-“N”) may be given to each of the baseline stents, and the measurement tool may show an identifier when the measurement is made. The baseline stent may be used to augment the model used to form a patient-specific stent used to take an impression of the patient's prepped teeth. The temporary dental coverings may be sculpted, shined, and attached to the prepped natural teeth.

The present invention provides a digital dental prosthesis manufacturing method including a first step in which a three-dimensional work image is acquired, the three-dimensional work image including surface information on an inner side of an oral cavity and a target dental arch in which fixtures are placed and occlusion information between the target dental arch and an opposing dental arch; a second step in which a temporary digital dental prosthesis is designed and manufactured; a third step in which the manufactured temporary digital dental prosthesis is installed on the target dental arch; and a fourth step in which a virtual coupling groove, which corresponds to surface information on the corrected coupling region, is set in an inner surface profile, which is set according to surface information on the corrected temporary shape-matching surface that is included in the corrected scan image, and a final digital dental prosthesis is designed and manufactured.

Provided is a reference denture alignment jig which guides reference dentures into an oral cavity or to an articulator in which upper and lower edentulous jaw models are fixed, and aligns the reference dentures in the oral cavity or in the articulator in which upper and lower edentulous jaw models are fixed, the jig having a reference denture holding portion for holding reference dentures.

A system and method of automated formation of a preparation stub, based on an a priori created computational geometrical model, configured to conform to a prefabricated fixed dental prosthesis, is described. The system includes a digital imaging facility with an image acquiring device and a three-dimensional data digitizer, a modeling facility with an exterior surface design module and an interior surface design module, a fabrication facility operatively with a computer-aided manufacturing module, as well as an application facility including an ablation tool and in-situ preparation module; application facility preferably includes an intra-oral feedbacking appliance with a distance measurement probe for automated feedback-controlled formation of a preparation stub.

A dental alignment guide system for dental implant placement has an anatomical guide, a tooth supported guide and a surgical guide. The system further can have an articulation piece, a prosthetic seat, an analog anatomical model and artificial teeth. The system has a plurality of implants, the implants being abutments, preferably multiunit abutments, a plurality of screws for attaching the anatomical guide to bone, pins to removably attach the various guides and the artificial teeth to the anatomical guide as assemblies during the method of practicing the invention.

Bone-secured dental arch veneers and methods for fabricating and utilizing the same. The dental arch veneers include a veneer assembly having one or more tooth veneers and a support structure configured to support the tooth veneer(s). The dental arch veneers also include a coupling structure configured to interconnect the veneer assembly to a bone mount that is anchored along a user's maxilla or mandible. The coupling structure also is configured to permit the veneer assembly to be selectively and repeatedly interconnected with and disconnected from the bone mount. The methods include determining a target region within the user's mouth, obtaining a representation of the target region, manipulating the representation to create a desired arrangement of the user's teeth within the target region, determining anchoring positions proximate the target region for anchoring the bone mount, and forming the dental arch veneer based on the anchoring positions and the desired arrangement.