Tooth shade analyzer system and methods
The invention relates to a method of determining a tooth shade of at least a portion of a patient's tooth which is to be replaced or restored, by capturing an electronic image of the patient's tooth, the image including color information representative of the patient's tooth shade; storing color information representative of known tooth shades with each known tooth shade representing a different tooth color; calibrating the color information of the patient's tooth and the color information representative of known tooth shades; and comparing the color information of the patient's tooth with the stored color information to identify a single tooth shade or a combination of tooth shades with a color or combined color corresponding to the color of at least a portion of the patient's tooth, such that the patient's tooth may be comprised of a single tooth shade or a plurality of tooth shades.
1. A method of determining a tooth shade of at least a portion of a patient's tooth which is to be replaced or restored, which comprises:
capturing an electronic image of the patient's tooth, the image including color information representative of the patient's tooth shade;
storing color information representative of known tooth shades with each known tooth shade representing a different tooth color;
calibrating the color information of the patient's tooth and the color information representative of known tooth shades; and
comparing the color information of the patient's tooth with the stored color information to identify a single tooth shade or a combination of tooth shades with a color or combined color corresponding to the color of at least a portion of the patient's tooth, such that the patient's tooth may be comprised of a single tooth shade or a plurality of tooth shades.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the calibrating is achieved by storing color information representative of the tooth shades that are captured with the same device or with a device calibrated within an acceptable margin as the device which captures the electronic images of the patient's tooth.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the electronic image is captured by an intraoral videocamera or an intraoral CCD camera.
4. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises integrating at least a portion of the tooth to determine an average color over that portion of the tooth by combining color fractions of tooth shades.
5. The method of claim 4 , which further comprises displaying the color information of the tooth and that which is representative of the tooth shades on a monitor for visual comparison.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the color information of the patient's tooth is compared with the stored color information relating to the tooth shades by a computer.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the color information of the patient's tooth is compared to the plurality of tooth shade guides on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
8. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises isolating the patient's tooth from external light sources to prevent interference with the capturing of the electronic image of the tooth.
9. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises whitening the patient's teeth prior to capturing the electronic image.