Dental variation tracking and prediction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9770217-B2
Application number	US-201514610226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods are presented for evaluating a dental condition. A first digital representation of at least a portion of an oral cavity of a first patient is compared to a second digital representation of the oral cavity of the same patient. The first digital representation is representative of the oral cavity of the first patient at a first time and the second digital representation is representative of the oral cavity of the first patient at a second, later time. At least one clinically-significant difference between the first digital representation and the second digital representation are automatically identified and the first digital representation is displayed in a way that highlights the at least one clinically significant difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of evaluating an oral condition, the method comprising:
comparing a first digital representation of at least a portion of an oral cavity of a first patient to a second digital representation of the portion of the oral cavity of the first patient, the first digital representation being representative of the portion of the oral cavity at a first time and the second digital representation being representative of the portion of the oral cavity at a second time, the second time being subsequent to the first time;
automatically identifying at least one clinically-significant difference between the first digital representation and the second digital representation;
determining a magnitude of the at least one clinically-significant difference; and
displaying the second digital representation in a way that highlights the at least one clinically-significant difference by displaying the second digital representation with an overlaid color-coding indicative of a degree of change of the clinically-significant difference at different locations in the oral cavity,
wherein displaying the overlaid color-coding includes displaying a first portion of the oral cavity in a first color when the magnitude of the at least one clinically-significant difference exceeds a threshold at the first portion of the oral cavity, and
wherein displaying the overlaid color-coding includes displaying a second portion of the oral cavity in a second color when the magnitude of the at least one clinically-significant difference does not exceed the threshold at the second portion of the oral cavity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital representation includes a first three-dimensional digital model of the portion of the oral cavity of the first patient and the second digital representation includes a second three-dimensional digital model of the portion of the oral cavity of the first patient, and wherein displaying the second digital representation includes displaying the first digital representation overlaid onto the second digital representation.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one clinically-significant difference includes a change in position of at least one tooth, and wherein displaying the first digital representation overlaid onto the second digital representation highlights a difference in the position of the at least one tooth in the first digital representation and the position of the at least one tooth in the second digital representation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the change in position of at least one tooth includes a change in at least one of the group consisting of a pitch change, a yaw change, and a roll change.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one clinically-significant difference includes a change in a position of a gum line, and wherein displaying the first digital representation overlaid onto the second digital representation highlights a difference in the position of the gum line in the first digital representation and the position of the gum line in the second digital representation.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one clinically-significant difference includes a change in tooth shape.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one clinically-significant difference includes a change in position of at least one tooth, further comprising:
determining a magnitude of position change for each tooth from the first digital representation to the second digital representation; and
comparing the magnitude of position change to the threshold, and
wherein displaying the second digital representation with the overlaid color-coding includes
displaying at least a portion of a first tooth in the first color if the magnitude of position change for the first tooth exceeds the threshold and
displaying at least a portion of the first tooth in the second color if the magnitude of position change for the first tooth does not exceed the threshold.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the change in position of at least one tooth includes a change in at least one of the group consisting of a pitch change, a yaw change, and a roll change.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one clinically-significant difference includes a change in color of at least one tooth, further comprising:
determining a magnitude of color change for a first location on a surface of the oral cavity from the first digital representation to the second digital representation; and
comparing the magnitude of color change to the threshold, and
wherein displaying the second digital representation with the overlaid color-coding includes
displaying the surface of the oral cavity with the first location shown in the first color if the magnitude of color change for the first tooth exceeds the threshold and
displaying the surface of the oral cavity with the first location shown in the second color if the magnitude of color change for the first tooth does not exceed the threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second digital representation includes
a three-dimensional representation of a surface of the portion of the oral cavity,
additional data of a kind different from the three-dimensional representation, and
information indicating a geometric relation between the three-dimensional representation and the additional data.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the second digital representation based on data from a scan of the oral cavity of the patient, and
generating the first digital representation based on data from an earlier scan of the oral cavity of the patient stored on a computer-readable memory.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the first digital representation based on data from a scan of the oral cavity of the patient, and
generating the second digital representation by predicting a future state of the portion of the oral cavity.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
generating a third digital representation based on data from a second, subsequent scan of the oral cavity of the patient, wherein the second subsequent scan is performed at a time corresponding to the predicted future state of the second digital representation;
automatically identifying at least one clinically-significant difference between the second digital representation and the third digital representation; and
displaying the third digital representation in a way that highlights the at least one clinically-significant difference.

14. A method of evaluating an oral condition, the method comprising:
comparing a first digital representation of at least a portion of an oral cavity of a first patient to a second digital representation of the portion of the oral cavity of the first patient, the first digital representation being representative of the portion of the oral cavity at a first time and the second digital representation being representative of the portion of the oral cavity at a second time, the second time being subsequent to the first time;
stimulating a portion of the oral cavity prior to the second time and subsequent to the first time such that the first digital representation represents a condition of the oral cavity before the stimulation and the second digital representation represents the condition of the oral cavity after the stimulation;
automatically identifying at least one clinically-significant difference between the first digital representation and the second digital representation; and
displaying the second digital representation in a way that highlights the at least one clinically-significant differenc

Assignees

• Dental Imaging Tech Corp
• Palodex Group Oy

Inventors

• Sandholm Joonas Erik
• Jouhikainen Matti Petri
• Dillon Robert Frank

Classifications

• A61B5/0062

  Arrangements for scanning · CPC title

• A61B5/4547

  Evaluating teeth · CPC title

• A61B5/0088 Primary

  for oral or dental tissue · CPC title

• A61C9/004

  Means or methods for taking digitized impressions · CPC title

• A61B5/4848

  Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication · CPC title