Dental occlusion analysis tool

1. A computer-implemented method for analyzing occlusion, the computer-implemented method comprising:

for both a right side of a patient and a left side of the patient:

displaying a three-dimensional (3D) model of at least a portion of a maxillary arch of the patient;

receiving input indicating a first point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the maxillary arch, the first point corresponding to a peak of a mesiobuccal cusp of a maxillary first molar;

displaying an electronic 3D model of at least a portion of a mandibular arch of the patient;

receiving input indicating a second point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch, the second point corresponding to a peak of a mesiobuccal cusp of a mandibular first molar;

receiving input indicating a third point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch, the third point corresponding to a peak of a distobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar;

receiving input indicating a fourth point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch, the fourth point corresponding to a contact point between the mandibular first molar and a mandibular second premolar;

receiving input indicating a fifth point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch, the fifth point corresponding to a contact point between the mandibular first molar and a mandibular second molar;

generating, by a computing device, a central axis, the central axis being a line on a plane, the plane being parallel to an occlusal plane of the patient;

identifying a location of a scoring intersection, the scoring intersection being a point where the central axis and a scoring line intersect, the scoring line being a line on the plane, the scoring line being perpendicular to the central axis and passing through a point projected onto the plane by the first point; and

generating a side score based on the location of the scoring intersection relative to measurement intersections, the measurement intersections being points where the central axis and measurement lines intersect, the measurement lines including lines on the plane perpendicular to the central axis; and

displaying a final occlusion score for the patient, the final occlusion score based on the side score for the right side and the side score for the left side.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to receiving the input indicating the first point:

attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the maxillary first molar; and

adjusting, by the computing device, a position of the first point to correspond to the true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the maxillary first molar;

in response to receiving the input indicating the second point:

attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar; and

adjusting, by the computing device, a position of the second point to correspond to the true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar; and

in response to receiving the input indicating the third point:

attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the distobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar; and

adjusting, by the computing device, a position of the third point to correspond to the true peak of the distobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to receiving the input indicating the first point, attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the maxillary first molar;

prior to receiving the input indicating the second point, attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the mesiobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar; and

prior to receiving the input indicating the third point, attempting, by the computing device, to identify a true peak of the distobuccal cusp of the mandibular first molar.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the patient is missing the maxillary first molar, the mandibular first molar, the mandibular second premolar, or the mandibular second molar.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

saving, by the computing device, the first point, the second point, the third point, the fourth point, and the fifth point to a file;

loading the file; and

after loading the file:

displaying, by the computing device, the first point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the maxillary arch;

displaying, by the computing device, the second point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch; and

displaying, by the computing device, the third point on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: displaying the central axis, the measurement lines, and the scoring line on the electronic 3D model of the portion of the mandibular arch, the measurement lines including measurement lines passing through the points projected onto the plane by the second point, the third point, the fourth point, and the fifth point.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 ,

wherein the measurement lines include lines perpendicular to the central axis and representing distances;

wherein scoring zones exist between the measurement lines, each of the scoring zones associated with a score; and

wherein generating the side score comprises:

identifying the scoring zone that contains the scoring intersection; and

using the score associated with the identified scoring zone as the side score.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising: displaying the point projected onto the plane by the first point, the point projected onto the plane by the second point, the point projected onto the plane by the third point, the point projected onto the plane by the fourth point, and the point projected onto the plane by the fifth point.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: calculating, by the computing device, the final occlusion score by adding the side score for the right side and the side score for the left side.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the central axis comprises calculating the central axis as a linear regression of points projected onto a plane by the second point, the third point, the fourth point, and the fifth point.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

after generating the side score, receiving additional input, the additional input indicating an adjustment to a given point, the given point being one of: the first point, the second point, the third point, the fourth point, or the fifth point; and

in response to receiving the additional input:

automatically re-generating the central axis;

automatically re-identifying the location of the scoring intersection;

automatically re-generating the side score; and

automatically displaying an updated final occlusion score, the updated final occlusion score based in part on the re-generated side score.