Systems and methods for automated bite-setting of tooth models

1. A method to bite set a dental model, comprising:

scanning upper and lower arches of the dental model;

scanning the upper and lower arches in their bite position; and

aligning the upper and lower arches to bite set the dental model, wherein the bite setting uses geometry matching, further comprising:

selecting a predetermined number of points on the jaw model;

removing noisy points;

computing closest points on the jaw component; and

computing a transformation that matches two points, one from each jaw model.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning uses a destructive scanner.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning uses a non-destructive scanner.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning uses a white light scanner.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning of the arches in their bite position further comprises:

placing a wax bite between the upper and lower arches;

positioning the upper and lower arches based on the wax bite to a bite position;

removing wax bite; and

performing a buccal scan of the upper and lower arches in the bite position without wax bite.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising analyzing the next point if the current point satisfies a predetermined constraint.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein if the current point fails the predetermined constraint, further comprising:

modifying the point by adjusting an initial approximation;

removing the noisy points;

computing closest points on the jaw models, and

computing the transformation that matches two points, one from each jaw.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the points are evenly distributed over the jaw models.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating an occlusion between the two jaws.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the collision criteria includes a collision area or a collision volume.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the minimizing collision criteria further comprises:

moving the upper jaw in a plurality of degrees of freedom and excluding a Z direction;

selecting a position in which the collision criteria is minimal.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the minimizing collision criteria further comprises:

selecting a direction to move the jaw by using dental knowledge of the collision areas between the jaws; and

iteratively reducing the collision area using mechanical physics.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the iteratively moving the jaw avoids introducing collision areas that cannot be achieved through translation and rotation.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

moving the upper jaw closer to the lower jaw;

computing collisions between the jaw models; and

minimizing one or more collision criteria.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein moving the jaws comprises moving in a Z axis direction.

16. A dental modeling system, comprising:

means for scanning upper and lower arches of the dental model:

means for scanning the upper and lower arches in their bite position; and

means for aligning the upper and lower arches to bite set the dental model, wherein the bite setting uses geometry matching, further comprising:

means for selecting a predetermined number of points on the jaw model;

means for removing noisy points;

means for computing closest points on the jaw component; and

means for computing a transformation that matches two points, one from each jaw model.