Granted Patent B2

US 12,544,005 · App. 17/740,996 · Granted Feb 10, 2026

Inventors: Alwin Kienle (Blaustein, DE); Steffen Nothelfer (Nersingen, DE)

Assignee: Ivoclar Vivadent AG

A61B5/4547A61B5/0075A61B5/0088A61B5/1077A61B5/1079A61C9/006G01B11/24G01B11/2527G03B35/08A61B1/06A61B2576/00G06T2207/30036G16H30/40

Abstract

Claims (20)

1 . A method of detecting demineralization of a tooth substance, comprising the steps of:

irradiating, with a projector, a structured light pattern comprising a stripe pattern, a dot pattern or a grid pattern and/or a periodic structure onto the tooth substance;

detecting, with a detector, intensity of remitted light of the structured light pattern and/or intensity amplitude (R sfd ) of the remitted light from a volume of the tooth substance, wherein the remitted light is a product of by elastic scattering;

determining, with a controller, a demineralization of the tooth substance based on the detected intensity of the remitted light and/or the intensity amplitude (R sfd ) of the remitted light; and

displaying on a display, with a controller, images of degree of demineralization of the volume of the tooth substance;

wherein a spatial geometry of the demineralization of the tooth substance is determined by a modeled lesion from a plurality of remitted light patterns each having a different spatial frequency.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the structured light pattern comprises a plurality of structured light patterns with different spatial frequencies, which are irradiated onto the tooth substance.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the structured light pattern comprises a plurality of structured light patterns, each having a different light wavelength, which are irradiated onto the tooth substance.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the demineralization of the tooth substance is additionally determined by a phase shift (φ sfd ) between the irradiated structured light pattern and the remitted light.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the intensity amplitude (R sfd ) and the phase shift (φ sfd ) are determined by spatial resolution over an area range and the demineralization is quantified by spatial resolution or determined based on the area.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein an angle between a direction in which the structured light pattern is irradiated and a direction in which the remitted light is detected is between 0° and 45°.

7 . A dental device for detecting demineralization of a tooth substance, comprising:

a projector for irradiating a structured light pattern onto the tooth substance, wherein the structured light pattern comprises a stripe pattern, a dot pattern or a grid pattern and/or a periodic structure;

a detector for detecting intensity of remitted light of the structured light pattern and/or intensity amplitude (Rsfd) of the remitted light from a volume of the tooth substance, wherein the remitted light is a product of elastic scattering;

a controller for determining a demineralization of the tooth substance based on the detected intensity of the remitted light and/or the intensity amplitude (Rsfd) of the remitted light; and

a display for displaying images of degree of demineralization of the volume of the tooth substance,

wherein a spatial geometry of the demineralization of the tooth substance is determined by a modeled lesion from a plurality of remitted light patterns each having a different spatial frequency.

8 . The dental device according to claim 7 , wherein the projector comprises a digital projector having a multispectral radiation source.

9 . The dental device according to claim 7 , wherein the detector comprises an electronic camera.

10 . The dental device according to claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a spatial geometry of the tooth substance based on the remitted and/or reflected light pattern.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (10)