Adjustment of tooth position in a virtual dental model

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020229902-A1
Application number	US-202016841556-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 6, 2020
Priority date	May 22, 2012
Publication date	Jul 23, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides computing device implemented methods, computing device readable media, and systems for adjustment of tooth position in a virtual dental model. Virtual dental modeling can include detecting space and/or collision between posterior teeth of an upper jaw and posterior teeth of a lower jaw in a virtual dental model that has been set in a preliminary target position. An energy function can be defined including the space and/or collision, tooth root movement, and align points. Weights can be assigned for each variable in the energy function. A position of the posterior teeth of the upper jaw and the posterior teeth of the lower jaw can be adjusted in six degrees of freedom to minimize the energy function. The detection, definition, assignment, and adjustment can be repeated until the energy function converges. The weights can be adjusted to reduce the space and/or collision.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of using a virtual dental model to design a series of orthodontic appliances, the method comprising:
optimizing an energy function by simulating biting using a virtual dental model that includes an upper jaw and a lower jaw in a preliminary target position, wherein optimizing the energy function includes adjusting a position of one or more teeth in the virtual dental model to accomplish one or more of:
resolving a collision between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws,
closing a posterior space between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws, and
achieving a particular ridge-groove relationship between teeth of the upper and lower jaws;
defining a number of treatment steps between the preliminary target position and a final target position for the upper and lower jaws based on the optimized energy function, wherein each of the number of treatment steps corresponds to an amount of adjustment to be performed by a respective orthodontic appliance; and communicating data to a fabrication device to create the respective orthodontic appliances.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the energy function includes successively simulating biting for a tooth of the upper jaw and a tooth of the lower jaw until the energy function is optimized for the tooth of the upper jaw and the tooth of the lower jaw within a desired accuracy.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the energy function includes optimizing the energy function of all of the teeth of the virtual dental model during a biting simulation.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the energy function includes creating a stable solution for the virtual dental model.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein achieving the particular ridge-groove relationship between teeth of the upper and lower jaws includes adjusting the position of the one or more teeth such that a ridge of a tooth of one of the upper or lower jaw fits into a groove of the corresponding upper or lower jaw.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the position of one or more teeth includes adjusting the position of a number of posterior teeth of the upper jaw and a number of posterior teeth of the lower jaw in six degrees of freedom.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the position of one or more teeth after the energy function is optimized to achieve the final target position for the upper and lower jaws.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the energy function includes assigning a weight to one or more variables in the energy function.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein assigning the weight to the one or more variables to assure movement of the one or more teeth is within a specified tolerance.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein assigning the weight includes more heavily weighting alignment for occlusion of anterior teeth and more heavily weighting contact and collision for the posterior teeth compared to other variables.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the preliminary target position is automatically defined or manually defined by a user.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating the respective orthodontic appliances.

13 . A computing device readable physical medium having instructions which can be executed by a processor to cause a computing device to:
optimize an energy function by simulating biting using a virtual dental model that includes an upper jaw and a lower jaw in a preliminary target position, wherein optimizing the energy function includes adjusting a position of one or more teeth in the virtual dental model to accomplish one or more of:
resolving a collision between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws,
closing a posterior space between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws, and
achieving a particular ridge-groove relationship between teeth of the upper and lower jaws;
define a number of treatment steps between the preliminary target position and a final target position for the upper and lower jaws based on the optimized energy function, wherein each of the number of treatment steps corresponds to an amount of adjustment to be performed by a respective orthodontic appliance; and communicate data to a fabrication device to create the respective orthodontic appliances.

14 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to optimize the energy function include instructions to successively simulate biting for a tooth of the upper jaw and a tooth of the lower jaw until the energy function is optimized for the tooth of the upper jaw and the tooth of the lower jaw within a desired accuracy.

15 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to adjust the position of one or more teeth include instructions to adjust the position of a number of posterior teeth of the upper jaw and a number of posterior teeth of the lower jaw in six degrees of freedom.

16 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to optimize the energy function include instructions to assign a weight to one or more variables in the energy function.

17 . The medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to assign the weight to the one or more variables assure movement of the one or more teeth is within a specified tolerance.

18 . The medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to assign the weight to the one or more variables include instructions to more heavily weight alignment for occlusion of anterior teeth and more heavily weight contact and collision for the posterior teeth compared to other variables.

19 . The medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to optimize the energy function include instructions to iteratively adjust the position of one or more teeth and optimize the energy function, wherein the instructions to assign the weight to the one or more variables include instructions to:
set a weight of collision as a first value for each iteration before a first number of iterations has been performed; increase the weight of collision by a second value for each iteration after the first number of iterations has been performed and before a second number of iterations has been performed, and increase the weight of collision by a third value for each iteration after the second number of iterations has been performed.

20 . The medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to optimize the energy function include instructions to adjust a position of one or more teeth to: resolve the collision between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws, close the posterior space between corresponding teeth of the upper and lower jaws, and achieve the particular ridge-groove relationship between teeth of the upper and lower jaws.

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Wu Fuming
• Matov Vadim
• Borovinskih Artem
• Sterental Rene M
• Agapov Pavel
• Spiridonov Anton
• Boltunov Anatoliy

Classifications

• G16H20/40

  relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture · CPC title

• G06T19/20

  Editing of three-dimensional [3D] images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts · CPC title

• G16H20/00

  ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance · CPC title

• A61C7/002 Primary

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title

• G06T2210/41

  Medical · CPC title