SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPROVED INTRA-ORAL SCANNING PROTOCOL AND CALIBRATION

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US None
App. No.: 19/366,263

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Abstract

A method of providing an accurate three-dimensional scan of a dental arch area is disclosed. The arch area has two segments and a connecting area between the two segments. The connecting area has homogeneous features. A connecting-geometry tool with at least one definable feature is affixed to the arch area. The definable feature overlays at least part of the connecting area. The arch area is scanned to produce a scanned dataset of the arch area. The definable feature of the connecting-geometry tool on the connection area is determined based on the scanned dataset. After correcting the scanned dataset for errors in the select subset of frames due to skew or distortion, the dimensions of the arch area are determined based on the data relating to the definable features from the corrected scanned dataset.

Claims (58)

1 . A method of determining dimensions of a soft tissue, homogenous, cross-arch connecting area extending between a dental arch area, the dental arch area including two segments separated by the soft tissue, homogenous, cross-arch connecting area, at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant being fixed in the dental arch area, the method comprising:

receiving a digital scan dataset comprising a plurality of frames comprising images of the portion of the patient's mouth including the two segments, the soft tissue, homogeneous, cross-arch connecting area, and a connecting-geometry tool with at least one definable feature relative to the dental arch area, the at least one definable feature extending at least part of the soft tissue, homogeneous, cross-arch connecting area;

selecting a first subset of frames from among the plurality of frames;

determining a first dimension of the at least one definable feature in the first subset of frames;

comparing the determined first dimension to a predetermined dimension of the at least one definable feature to determine first error correction information;

applying the first error correction information to the first subset of frames to provide a corrected first subset of frames;

selecting a second subset of frames from among the plurality of frames;

determining a second dimension of the at least one definable feature in the second subset of frames;

comparing the determined second dimension to the predetermined dimension to determine second error correction information;

applying the second error correction information to the second subset of frames to provide a corrected second subset of frames; and

stitching together the corrected first and second subsets of frames to form a corrected scan dataset.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of frames is discrete from the second subset of frames and wherein the second subset of frames is sequential to the first subset of frames.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second error correction information are different and determine a corresponding skew between the predetermined dimension of the at least one definable feature and the determined first and second dimension, respectively, and further comprising:

determining the dimension of the patient's mouth based on the corrected dataset relating to the at least one definable feature.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting-geometry tool is attached to at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant and wherein the connecting-geometry tool is a mesh grid, the mesh grid including a plurality of geometric shapes and wherein the plurality of geometric shapes have at least two geometric shapes having different dimensions.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting-geometry tool is attached to at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant and wherein the connecting-geometry tool is a scan plate.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant is the healing abutment and wherein the healing abutment comprises a top surface and a sidewall, and wherein the scan plate comprises a hole that receives the sidewall.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant comprises a socket, and wherein the scan plate comprises a mating post locked into the socket of the at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting-geometry tool is a scan plate, wherein the at least one definable feature is a protruding object on a top surface of the scan plate, and wherein the scan plate occupies only a portion of the soft tissue, homogeneous, cross-arch connecting area.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting-geometry tool is attached to the dental implant.

10 . A system for determining dimensions of a soft tissue, homogenous, cross-arch connecting area extending between a dental arch area, the dental arch area including two segments separated by the soft tissue, homogenous, cross-arch connecting area, at least one of a healing abutment and dental implant being fixed in the dental arch area, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, configured the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: