Detecting tooth shade
Disclosed in a method, a user interface and a system for use in determining shade of a patient's tooth, wherein a digital 3D representation including shape data and texture data for the tooth is obtained. A tooth shade value for at least one point on the tooth is determined based on the texture data of the corresponding point of the digital 3D representation and on known texture values of one or more reference tooth shade values.
1. A method for determining shade of a patient's tooth, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining a digital 3D representation of the tooth, where the digital 3D representation comprises shape data and texture data for the tooth; and
determining a tooth shade value for at least one point on the tooth based on the texture data of the corresponding point of the digital 3D representation and on known texture values of one or more reference tooth shade values,
wherein the method comprises deriving a certainty score expressing the certainty of the determined tooth shade value.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the tooth shade value for the point comprises selecting the reference tooth shade value with the known texture value closest to the texture data of the point.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the tooth shade value for the point comprises an interpolation of the two or more reference tooth shade values having known texture values close to the texture data of the point.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises generating a visual representation of the certainty score and displaying this visual representation in a user interface.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the visual representation of the certainty score is displayed together with or is mapped onto the digital 3D representation of the tooth.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises comparing the derived certainty score with a range of acceptable certainty score values.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the certainty measure relates to how uniform the sub-scan texture information is at the point, and/or to how close the texture data is to the known texture value of the determined tooth shade value, and/or to the amount of texture information used to derive the texture data at the point.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the visual representation of the certainty score comprises a binary code, a bar structure with a color gradient, a numerical value, and/or a comparison between the texture data and the known texture value of the determined tooth shade value.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more reference tooth shade values relate to shade values for natural teeth with intact surface and/or to shade values for teeth prepared for a dental restoration.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises comparing the texture data with known texture values for soft oral tissue, such as gum tissue and gingiva.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the texture information comprises at least one of tooth color or surface roughness.
12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises creating a shade profile for the tooth from shade values determined one or more points on the tooth.
13. A method for determining shade of a patient's tooth, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining a digital 3D representation of the tooth, where the digital 3D representation comprises shape data and texture data for the tooth; and
determining a tooth shade value for at least one point on the tooth based on the texture data of the corresponding point of the digital 3D representation and on known texture values of one or more reference tooth shade values,
wherein the method comprises creating a shade profile for the tooth from shade values determined one or more points on the tooth,
wherein the tooth shade profile comprises a one or more tooth shade regions on the tooth surface where an average tooth shade is derived for each region from tooth shade values determined for a number of points within the region.
14. A method for determining shade of a patient's tooth, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining a digital 3D representation of the tooth, where the digital 3D representation comprises shape data and texture data for the tooth; and
determining a tooth shade value for at least one point on the tooth based on the texture data of the corresponding point of the digital 3D representation and on known texture values of one or more reference tooth shade values,
wherein obtaining the digital 3D representation of the tooth comprises recording a series of sub-scans of the tooth, where at least one of said sub-scans comprises both texture information and geometry information for said tooth, and generating the digital 3D representation of the tooth from the recorded series of sub-scans.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the texture data at least partly are derived by combining the texture information from corresponding parts of a number of the sub-scans.
16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein combining the texture information from the sub-scans comprises interpolating the texture information and/or calculating an average value of the texture information.
17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the calculated average value is a weighted average of the texture information.