Deriving tooth condition information for populating digital dental charts
Disclosed are methods and digital tools for deriving tooth condition information for a patient's teeth, for populating a digital dental chart with derived tooth condition information, and for generating an electronic data record containing such information.
1. A method for populating a digital dental chart with tooth condition information for a patient's teeth, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining a digital three dimensional (3D) representation of the patient's teeth;
identifying individual teeth in the digital 3D representation;
segmenting the individual teeth from the digital 3D representation;
obtaining diagnostic data for one or more of the teeth;
deriving tooth condition information about specific locations of the one or more teeth from the diagnostic data;
correlating the derived tooth information with the specific locations of the individual teeth;
obtaining a digital dental chart comprising regions representing surfaces of the patient's teeth;
correlating the individual teeth with the corresponding regions of the digital dental chart; and
adding a representation of the derived tooth condition information to the respective specific locations at the corresponding region or regions of the digital dental chart.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the diagnostic data are comprised in the digital 3D representation.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the tooth condition information for a tooth is derived from variations in the diagnostic data over the segmented tooth portion of the digital 3D representation.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the diagnostic data are comprised in a diagnostic data set obtained in addition to the digital 3D representation of the patient's teeth.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the method comprises determining a spatial correlation between the digital 3D representation and the diagnostic data of the diagnostic data set.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the spatial correlation between the digital 3D representation and the diagnostic data is determined by aligning corresponding portions of the digital 3D representation and the diagnostic data set.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the aligning corresponding portions of the digital 3D representation and the diagnostic data is based on one or more of fiducial markers, landmark identification or aligning the surfaces using Iterative Closest Point algorithm.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the tooth condition information comprises the location of the condition on the identified tooth.
9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein correlating the derived tooth information with the identified teeth comprises determining a location of the tooth condition on the tooth.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein identifying the individual teeth comprises comparing the segmented teeth with digital template teeth of a tooth database.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the identification of the teeth in the obtained digital 3D representation is based on an identification made for a previously obtained digital 3D representation of the patient's teeth.
12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic data comprises data selected from the group consisting of texture data, fluorescence data, Infrared data, X-ray data, optical coherence tomography data, ultrasound data, laser speckle images, or data representing the occlusal contact between antagonist teeth.
13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the derived tooth condition information relates to information selected from the group consisting of tooth shade, tooth wear, caries, presence of cariogenic bacteria, presence of fillings from previous dental work, acid erosion damages, bruxism induced damages, tooth arrangement, malocclusion, or gingiva retraction.
14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic data comprises tooth color data, or tooth shade data.
15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the correlating includes graphically correlating the derived tooth information with the specific locations of the individual teeth.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the correlation is expressed as a transformation configured to bring the digital 3D representation and the diagnostic data into a common coordinate system with a correct relative arrangement.
17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the digital dental chart comprises regions representing different surfaces of the teeth, and the method further comprises projecting the diagnostic data or the derived tooth condition information for a segmented tooth onto the corresponding region representing the different surfaces of the teeth on the digital dental chart.
18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the regions of the teeth on the digital dental chart are based on the corresponding surfaces of the teeth of the digital 3D representation such that the regions of the dental chart are shaped and/or colored and/or arranged according to the patient's teeth.
19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the adding step includes mapping the derived tooth condition information about specific locations to the corresponding region or regions of the digital dental chart.
20. A nontransitory computer readable medium encoded with program code for populating a digital dental chart with tooth condition information for a patient's teeth when said program code are executed on a data processing system, wherein said method comprises:
obtaining a digital three dimensional (3D) representation of the patient's teeth;
identifying the individual teeth in the digital 3D representation;
segmenting the individual teeth from the digital 3D representation;
obtaining diagnostic data for one or more of the teeth;
deriving tooth condition information about specific locations of the one or more teeth from the diagnostic data;
correlating the derived tooth information with the specific locations of the individual teeth;
obtaining a digital dental chart comprising regions representing surfaces of the patient's teeth;
correlating the individual teeth with the corresponding regions of the digital dental chart; and
adding a representation of the derived tooth condition information to the respective specific locations at the corresponding region or regions of the digital dental chart.
21. The nontransitory computer readable medium according to claim 20 , wherein the correlating includes graphically correlating the derived tooth information with the specific locations of the individual teeth.