Method for monitoring the position of teeth

1. A method for monitoring a position of a patient's teeth in order to monitor a relapse after an orthodontic treatment modifying the position of the patient's teeth by means of an active retainer apparatus or an apparatus comprising an arch wire and brackets, the method comprising:

a) less than 6 months after an end of the orthodontic treatment, wherein the end of the orthodontic treatment is a time when the patient is no longer wearing any active apparatus or apparatus comprising an arch wire and brackets, modeling, with a three-dimensional scanner, a target position of the teeth in a form of a target model in three dimensions, said target model modeling the teeth in their corrected position resulting from the implementation of the orthodontic treatment;

b) after a time interval greater than 1 month after step a), acquiring one or more photos and/or videos of the patient's teeth with a cell phone, under direction of the patient, processing the acquired one or more photos and/or videos of the patient's teeth from the cell phone to create a digital updated model in three dimensions, and comparing the target model and the digital updated model via an algorithm for comparison between two three dimensional models; and

c) determining a difference with respect to one or more positions of the patient's teeth between the target model and the digital updated model based upon the comparing, generating information relating to the difference, and transmitting the information to the patient and/or to a dental professional.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, at step a), the modeling is carried out such that the target model supplies information concerning the position of the teeth with an error of less than 1/10 mm.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the cell phone is used to implement step c).

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , in which, prior to step b), the patient or the dental professional loads the target model onto the cell phone.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the one or more photos and/or videos comprise one or more photos of the patient's teeth.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, at step b), the one or more photos and/or videos comprise one or more images from one or more videos of the patient's teeth.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which, depending on the comparison at step b), informing the patient and/or the dental professional of a probable need for a consultation with a dentist or an orthodontist.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the cell phone transmits the updated model and/or results of the comparison carried out at step b) to a dentist or to an orthodontist.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in which the comparison of the models is carried out either on the cell phone, or with an app used by the dental professional, or with a dedicated third-party server.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising using the information generated at step c) to

detect a relapse, and/or

determine a speed of change in the position of teeth, and/or

optimize a scheduling of visits to an orthodontist or a dentist, and/or

evaluate an efficacy of an orthodontic treatment, and/or

evaluate the change of position of teeth toward a theoretical model corresponding to a defined position of the teeth.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a view of the target model presenting a greatest similarity to the acquired one or more photos and/or videos is used for the comparing.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more photos and/or videos of the patient's teeth are acquired while the patient positions a retractor or an intra-oral imaging device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, at step b), positioning of the cell phone for acquiring the one or more photos and/or videos of the patient's teeth is guided by visual messages and/or audio messages.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interval is determined by the patient.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processing of the acquired one or more photos and/or videos of the patient's teeth from the cell phone to create the digital updated model in three dimensions, and the comparing of the target model and the digital updated model via an algorithm for comparison between two three dimensional models, in step b) is carried out by the cell phone.