Automated creation of tooth restoration dental appliances
Techniques are described for automating the design and manufacture a dental restoration appliance for restoring the dental anatomy of a patient. For example, a system processes a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a future (desired) dental anatomy of a patient, the future dental anatomy representing an intended shape of at least one tooth of the patient. The system includes a landmark identifier configured to automatically compute, based on the digital 3D model of the future dental anatomy of the patient, one or more landmarks of the future dental anatomy of the patient. The system also includes a custom feature generator configured to automatically generate, based on the one or more landmarks, one or more custom appliance features for a dental appliance for restoring the at least one tooth of the patient. The system further includes a memory device configured to store a digital model of the dental appliance.
1 . A system comprising:
one or more processors configured to obtain a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a future dental anatomy of a patient, the future dental anatomy representing an intended shape of at least one tooth of the patient;
a landmark identifier configured to automatically compute, based on the digital 3D model of the future dental anatomy of the patient, one or more landmarks of the future dental anatomy of the patient, wherein the landmark identifier is configured to identify a plurality of slices of the dental anatomy;
a custom feature generator configured to automatically generate, based on the one or more landmarks, one or more custom appliance features for a dental appliance for restoring the at least one tooth of the patient wherein the custom appliance feature is a mold parting surface and the custom feature generator is configured to generate the mold parting surface by at least being configured to:
generate a 3D mesh by accumulating a plurality of points for each respective slice of a plurality of slices of the dental anatomy; and
determine, based on the 3D mesh, the mold parting surface;
a memory device configured to store a digital model of the dental appliance, the digital model of the dental appliance including at least one of the one or more custom appliance features or one or more pre-defined appliance features; and
an interface configured to output instructions that cause a manufacturing system to 3D print the dental appliance based on the digital model generated by the custom feature generator.
2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a feature characteristics manager configured to automatically determine, based at least in part on the one or more landmarks, characteristics of the one or more pre-defined appliance features for the dental appliance, wherein the one or more pre-defined appliance features are configured to perform functionality of the dental appliance.
3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a model assembler configured to automatically assemble the one or more custom appliance features and the one or more pre-defined appliance features into the digital model of the dental appliance.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein to automatically compute the one or more landmarks, the landmark identifier is further configured to determine a midpoint of the at least one tooth within each respective slice of the plurality of slices.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tooth includes a first tooth and a second tooth, and wherein to automatically compute the one or more landmarks, the landmark identifier is further configured to determine a closest point between the first tooth and the second tooth within each respective slice of the plurality of slices.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein to automatically compute the one or more landmarks, the landmark identifier is further configured to compute a convex hull indicating an outer boundary of the at least one tooth within each respective slice of the plurality of slices.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the landmark identifier is further configured to determine whether a particular slice of the plurality of slices is valid by at least being configured to:
determine an area of a tooth for each respective slice within the plurality of slices;
determine the largest area of the tooth across the plurality of slices;
determine whether the particular slice is valid based at least in part on the area of the tooth for the particular slice and the largest area of the tooth across the plurality of slices.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the landmark identifier is further configured to determine whether a particular slice of the plurality of slices is valid by at least being configured to:
determine a length of a segment of a convex hull for the particular slice of a tooth;
determine a length of a perimeter of the convex hull for the particular slice of the tooth;
determine whether the particular slice of the tooth is valid based on the length of the segment of the convex hull and the length of the perimeter of the convex hull.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more custom appliance features further includes at least one of a spline, a shell, a facial ribbon, a lingual shelf, a door, a mold parting surface, an incisal ridge, a case frame sparing, an aperture that provides access to the tooth surface so that dental composite can be placed on the tooth and a diastema matrix wrapping.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more custom appliance features includes a spline, and wherein the custom feature generator is configured to generate the spline by at least being configured to:
divide the digital 3D model into a plurality of slices;
identify a midpoint for each tooth for each slice of the plurality of slices;
identify a closest point between each set of adjacent teeth within each slice; and
generate a spline for each slice based on at least one of the midpoint for each tooth for each slice or the closest point between each set of adjacent teeth within each slice.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the feature characteristic manager is further configured to determine one or more characteristics of the one or more pre-defined appliance features based on one or more practitioner preferences.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the feature characteristic manager is further configured to determine one or more characteristics of the one or more pre-defined appliance features based on feedback associated with a previously generated dental appliance.
13 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a landmark identifier of a computing device, a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a future dental anatomy of a patient, the future dental anatomy representing an intended shape of at least one tooth of the patient;
automatically computing, by the landmark identifier, based on the digital 3D model of the future dental anatomy of the patient, one or more landmarks of the future dental anatomy of the patient, wherein the landmark identifier is configured to identify a plurality of slices of the dental anatomy;
generating, based on the one or more landmarks, one or more custom appliance features for a dental appliance for restoring the at least one tooth of the patient wherein the custom appliance feature is a mold parting surface and the custom feature generator is configured to generate the mold parting surface by:
generating a 3D mesh by accumulating a plurality of points for each respective slice of a plurality of slices of the dental anatomy; and
determining, based on the 3D mesh, the mold parting surface;
storing, at a memory of the computing device, a digital model of the dental appliance, the digital model of the dental appliance including at least one of the one or more custom appliance features or one or more pre-defined appliance features; and
outputting instructions that cause a manufacturing system to 3D print the dental appliance based on the digital model generated by the custom feature generator.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
automatically determining, by a feature characteristics manager of the computing device, based at least in part on the one or more landmarks, characteristics of the one or more pre-defined appliance features for the dental appliance, wherein the one or more pre-defined appliance features are configured to perform functionality of the dental appliance.
15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
automatically assembling, by a model assembler of the computing device, the one or more custom appliance features and the one or more pre-defined appliance features into the digital model of the dental appliance.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein automatically computing the one or more landmarks of the future dental anatomy includes:
identifying, by the landmark identifier, a plurality of slices of the dental anatomy; and
identifying a midpoint of the at least one tooth within each respective slice of the plurality of slices.
17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more custom appliance features further includes at least one of a spline, a shell, a facial ribbon, a lingual shelf, a door, a mold parting surface, an incisal ridge, a case frame sparing, an aperture that provides access to the tooth surface so that dental composite can be placed on the tooth and a diastema matrix wrapping.
18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the landmark identifier is further configured to determine whether a particular slice of the plurality of slices is valid by performing the steps comprising:
determining an area of a tooth for each respective slice within the plurality of slices;
determining the largest area of the tooth across the plurality of slices;
determine whether the particular slice is valid based at least in part on the area of the tooth for the particular slice and the largest area of the tooth across the plurality of slices.
19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the landmark identifier is further configured to determine whether a particular slice of the plurality of slices is valid by performing the steps comprising:
determining a length of a segment of a convex hull for the particular slice of a tooth;
determining a length of a perimeter of the convex hull for the particular slice of the tooth;
determining whether the particular slice of the tooth is valid based on the length of the segment of the convex hull and the length of the perimeter of the convex hull.