Method and system for processing digital dental impressions - Patents.com

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for improving digital dentistry comprising providing a 3D digital impression of a craniofacial anatomy, where the digital impression is described in terms of a plurality of cells, providing a database of a plurality of dental procedures and their corresponding criteria to enable applicability, analyzing the cells with respect to the criteria, and determining, in response to the analysis, for which of the dental procedures the digital impression can be used and for which of the dental procedures the digital impression cannot be used.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The entire content of priority application EP22166948.4 is hereby incorporated by reference into this international application under the provisions of the PCT. [Technical field]

[0002] The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method and system for processing digital dental impressions. [Background technology]

[0003] A digital dental impression is a digital representation of a patient's oral anatomy. Dental impressions are used to provide patients with dental objects or dental treatments, such as surgical templates, custom devices, prosthetic restorations, or orthodontic aligners. Digital dental impressions are usually captured by a dental scanner, for example an intraoral scanner. Building a good dental digital impression can take time and require high quality equipment. Sometimes, for example through repeated scanning, imperfections such as gaps can exist in the digital dental impression, which may need to be corrected. This can increase the patient's time in the chair.

[0004] In such a situation, problems are likely to occur during processing if the dental procedure is applied to an incomplete digital impression, which may lead to erroneous dental treatment or an inappropriate dental restoration. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The inventors are not aware of any technique in which the applicability of a dental procedure to a digital dental impression is analyzed and a user is informed of the level of applicability of the dental procedure to a digital dental impression.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for processing digital dental impressions, which prevents incorrect dental treatments or inappropriate dental objects.

[0007] This object is achieved by a method according to claim 1 and a system according to claim 8. The other claims relate to further developments and preferred embodiments.

[0008] The present invention provides a computer-implemented method for digital dentistry. The method includes providing patient-specific digital data of a patient, wherein the digital data comprises a digital dental impression of craniofacial anatomy, wherein the digital data is described in terms of a mesh, voxels, point cloud, tetrahedrons, or combinations thereof, and providing a database comprising a plurality of dental procedures and associated criteria that the digital data must satisfy so that the dental procedures can be applied to the digital data, wherein the dental procedures are either (i) diagnostic procedures related to wear diseases, caries, periodontitis, gingival atrophy, gingivitis, tooth surface loss syndrome, cracked tooth syndrome, pericoronitis, alveolar osteitis, jaw bone tumors and cysts, poor oral hygiene, temporomandibular joint disorders, or combinations thereof, or (ii) treatment planning procedures including dental applications related to crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, implants, aligners, brackets, dentures, bridges, or endodontic treatments, or combinations thereof, wherein the criteria include consistency, watertightness, inverted triangles, inverted normals, normal set, triangle size, number of components, self tolerance, span The method includes the steps of: analyzing the digital data to determine whether the digital data satisfies criteria described in terms of one or more of can bodies, noise, presence of pre-processed teeth, jaw integrity, full jaw scan or partial jaw scan, dental objects such as implants, abutments, brackets, and tooth misalignment, and whether the digital data has deficiencies such as inconsistencies and / or inconsistencies in mesh, point cloud, voxels, tetrahedrons, etc.; determining a level of applicability of the dental procedure to the provided digital data based on the analysis, wherein the level of applicability is determined through the extent to which the criteria are met by the provided digital data and the detected deficiencies, and the level of applicability is classified into three levels, where the dental procedure is either determined to be applicable when the criteria are met, determined to be not applicable when the criteria are not met, or determined to be applicable at the discretion of the user when one or more deficiencies are detected; and outputting the determined level of applicability to a practitioner.

[0009] According to the present invention, the applicability of a given digital impression can be essentially simultaneously evaluated for different dental procedures and can be applied on the fly while the digital impression is being taken from the patient, making the taking of the digital impression more efficient.

[0010] For example, analysis of a digital impression may lead to a determination that the digital impression is suitable for producing a dental crown, but not for producing a dental bridge. A similar evaluation may be performed, for example, for an aligner, veneer, or any other dental object, by analyzing the cells of the dental procedure with respect to the particular cell criteria of that object. The cells may be in any suitable format available for digital dental impressions in the dental domain, such as in the format of a mesh, a point cloud, a voxel, a tetrahedron, or a combination of any two or more of these formats.

[0011] The advantage of the present invention is that the usefulness of digital dental impressions is improved. For example, a given digital dental impression may not be good enough for a particular dental object, but may be good enough for another dental object or dental procedure. In such a case, planning or dental procedures may be started before capturing a new digital impression. Alternatively or additionally, digital dental impressions captured in the past, for example several months or more ago (hereinafter referred to as digital impressions for short), may be analyzed to check whether they are still usable for a more recent dental procedure that the patient may need. From this, unnecessary acquisition of new digital impressions may be prevented. From this, digital dentistry may be improved.

[0012] In accordance with the present invention, the method may also comprise detecting, in response to the analysis, one or more imperfections in the cell for usefulness in one or more of the dental procedures.

[0013] From this, when the cells are analyzed, it can be detected whether any cells have one or more imperfections that may prevent them from being usable for one or more of the dental procedures. For example, the imperfections may be any one or more of the following: lack of precision, lack of completeness, inconsistencies, artifacts, mesh defects such as holes, bad triangles, improper structures such as foreign bodies, other data such as color or shading. For example, the analysis may involve determining that the cell precision is good locally or in a part of the digital impression and / or globally or for the entire digital impression. Alternatively or additionally, the analysis may involve checking the completeness, in the sense that the digital impression comprises all relevant parts or cells necessary for a given dental procedure. For example, if the digital impression only relates to a partial jaw, or if the precision of the full jaw digital impression is poor, some dental procedures may be possible but other dental procedures may not be possible, for example aligners may not be possible. Alternatively or additionally, the analysis may involve verifying that the digital impression is consistent with other patient data. For example, if the digital impression is erroneously included in an incorrect patient folder with other patient data such as previous digital impressions and / or CT scan data and / or X-ray data and / or optical scan data and / or patient photos and / or videos, the analysis may determine that the digital impression is unusable, preferably for all dental procedures. This may prevent the incorrect digital impression from being used for a dental procedure. This may prevent incorrect treatment and / or production of incorrect dental objects. Alternatively or additionally, the analysis may involve detecting the presence of any artifacts that may prevent the digital impression from being usable for any dental procedure. Alternatively or additionally, the analysis may involve detecting defects such as breaks or data gaps, e.g. broken meshes, holes and / or bad triangles, the presence of foreign bodies in the impression that may prevent the digital impression from being usable for any dental procedure.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that not only can it be determined whether a digital impression is suitable for a category of dental procedures, but also its suitability for a particular type of dental procedure, for example, it can be determined whether a digital impression is suitable for a general dental crown, but also which types of dental crowns are feasible with a digital impression and which are not.

[0014] According to the invention, the computing unit having access thereto may also have access to data such as one or more surface scans, volume data, articulator data, photographs and / or videos of the patient.

[0015] According to the invention, the method may also comprise determining, depending on the analysis, at least one location or part of the digital impression in which a cell should be repaired and thus improved.

[0016] From this, depending on the analysis, it can be identified which parts of the digital impression should be repaired, for example to remove one or more imperfections. Thus, not only is a determination provided as to which of the dental procedures the digital impression is not suitable for, but also how the digital impression should be improved to correct the imperfections. From this, the existing digital impression can be repaired, rather than repeating the entire scan to obtain a new digital impression. This can save time and effort.

[0017] According to the invention, the method can provide significant advantages when applied on the fly, i.e. when the analysis is performed while the digital impression is being taken from the patient. For example, the analysis can be performed continuously or intermittently to determine the suitability of the digital impressions for at least one dental procedure while the patient is sitting in the chair so that the digital impressions are captured. From this, as soon as the digital impressions meet the respective criteria and cell descriptions, their suitability for the respective dental procedure is determined. This and / or other responses can be provided in a human machine interface ("HMI") unit, such as a display of a system executing the method. From this, the method can comprise providing one or more responses to the analysis in the human machine interface.

[0018] Thereby, the user is informed that suitability of the digital impression for a given dental procedure has been achieved. As a result, the user is allowed to terminate the acquisition. This can reduce the acquisition time to the acquisition time required to obtain a digital impression for a given purpose, rather than over-engineering or over-working the acquisition process.

[0019] The response to the HMI may for example be in the form of a termination signal to inform the user that the acquisition can be terminated. Alternatively or additionally, the termination signal may automatically terminate the acquisition process. Thus, according to the invention, the method may comprise generating a termination signal for terminating the acquisition of the digital impression in response to the analysis.

[0020] Alternatively or additionally, the method may comprise providing an initiation signal for initiating a restorative dental procedure and / or a cell correction procedure in response to the analysis.

[0021] From this, the start signal may be used to inform a user that a given dental procedure and / or a cell correction procedure for that dental procedure may be initiated, and / or that either or both of these procedures may be initiated automatically.

[0022] According to the invention, the method may also comprise determining, in response to the initiation signal, at least corrective measures with which the cells are to be restored, preferably for a given dental procedure.

[0023] Thus, it may also be determined what corrective actions need to be performed to make the digital impression suitable for a given dental procedure. The output of the determination may be provided in an HMI to assist a user in improving the digital impression, and / or the corrective actions may be initiated or performed at least partially automatically.

[0024] Alternatively or additionally, according to the invention, the method may comprise determining at least one quality score (level of applicability) for the cell in response to the analysis.

[0025] From this, at least one quality score can be determined for at least one dental procedure, preferably for all dental procedures. The quality score can indicate the degree of suitability of the digital impression for a given dental procedure. At least one, preferably multiple quality scores are displayed in the HMI. The quality scores can be related to different dental procedures.

[0026] Alternatively or additionally, according to the present invention, the cell analysis is performed via a cell analyzer, such as a microprocessor or a neural network, which may be trained via machine learning using cell analysis training data comprising a number of past digital impressions and their corresponding dental procedure data.

[0027] According to the present invention, the digital impression with corrected cells as produced herein is an optimized digital impression. For this reason, the present invention also provides a data storage medium storing the digital impression with corrected cells as produced in any of the methods disclosed herein. It can also provide the use of the digital impression with corrected cells as produced in any of the methods disclosed herein for performing a dental procedure and / or for manufacturing a dental object.

[0028] For example, there may be provided a method for performing a dental procedure and / or a method for manufacturing a dental object, comprising providing a digital impression with corrected cells as generated in any of the methods disclosed herein, and using the digital impression to perform the dental procedure and / or manufacture the dental object.

[0029] The present invention also provides a system comprising means for carrying out the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0030] For example, a system for digital dentistry may be provided that includes one or more computing units, any of which is configured to: provide or access a three-dimensional digital impression of a craniofacial anatomical structure, where the digital impression includes a plurality of cells; provide or access a database of a plurality of dental procedures and their corresponding criteria; analyze the digital impression to determine whether the digital impression meets the criteria and whether the data has deficiencies such as inconsistencies and / or inconsistencies in the cells; and, depending on the analysis, determine which of the dental procedures the digital impression can be used for and / or which of the dental procedures the digital impression cannot be used for.

[0031] According to the present invention, there is also provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer software or software comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more suitable computing units, cause any of the computing units to perform the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0032] A digital impression (digital model) refers to a digital representation or model of a patient's craniofacial anatomy, more specifically, oral anatomy. The digital model includes a representation of anatomical features such as the patient's teeth and / or hard and / or soft tissues in and around the patient's gums. The digital impression may be usable for diagnosis and / or to provide the patient with one or more treatments and / or procedures, such as any one or more of the following: dental treatments or procedures, provision or production of dental objects such as surgical templates, custom devices, prosthetic restorations, and orthodontic aligners.

[0033] The digital impression may comprise or be in the form of surface and / or volumetric data of the patient's craniofacial anatomy. The digital impression may therefore be in the form of a surface and / or volumetric model. The digital impression is obtained via one or more medical scans performed on the patient.

[0034] The digital impression comprises a plurality of cells or components, which may be data points arranged in a surface and / or volume distribution. For example, the digital impression may be in the form of a point cloud. Other representations or formats of the digital impression may include two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional ("3D") meshes, voxels, tetrahedrons, or even suitable combinations thereof. Thus, the digital impression may comprise any one or more of data points in the form of, for example, a point cloud, a mesh, a voxel, and a tetrahedron.

[0035] The digital impression may comprise articulator data, a photograph or video of the patient, or even a combination thereof.

[0036] The digital impression may be provided via any medical scan, such as an optical scan, an x-ray, a CT scan, or any combination thereof. The digital impression may relate to the entire craniofacial anatomy, or a portion thereof. For example, the digital impression may be in the form of an intraoral surface scan performed via an intraoral scanner.

[0037] A medical scan may refer to any kind of scan performed intra- and / or extra-oral on a patient. For example, a medical scan may result from a diagnostic or scanning procedure such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical dental scan, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), Heidelberg retina tomography (HRT), optical coherence tomography (OCT), ultrasound tomography, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), e.g. dental CBCT, dental MRI, or any combination or variation of tomographic imaging techniques such as PET-CT or angiography.

[0038] Anatomical features refer to information related to a particular craniofacial anatomical structure, such as the patient's oral anatomy. For example, the anatomical features may be information related to a particular tooth or group of teeth. From this, the anatomical features may refer to information related to intraoral structures, such as dentition, gums, nerve channels, tooth extraction sites, jaw bones, and condyles. Alternatively or additionally, the intraoral structure may be an artificial structure, such as a dental replacement, e.g., a dental crown, brace, veneer, bridge, etc. Alternatively or additionally, the intraoral structure may be a scanbody, or other natural or artificial structure attached to the patient's jaw, as the case may be. Alternatively or additionally, the anatomical features may be information related to a lesion or pathology. For example, the lesion or pathology may be a tooth or bone fracture, caries, radiolucency, impaction, or any other characterizable condition of the oral anatomy or any part thereof.

[0039] An anatomical feature may be, for example, the shape of a particular tooth and / or the location or position of the tooth relative to absolute or other intra-oral structures. Alternatively or additionally, an anatomical feature may be the color and / or texture of an anatomical part or intra-oral structure.

[0040] The criteria refer to one or more criteria indicating the suitability or usefulness of the digital impression for at least one dental procedure. Preferably, each different dental procedure is associated with its corresponding criteria. Depending on the type of digital impression, the criteria may include a consistency criterion indicating the general validity of the cell, e.g., mesh. In such a case, the criteria may include measures such as adjacency correctness and vertex triangulation correctness. The criteria may depend on the specifications of the cell or mesh.

[0041] It should be appreciated that the criteria can be applied locally and / or globally to the digital impression. By local criteria we mean criteria that are applied to parts of a particular digital impression. By global criteria we mean criteria that are applied to the entire particular digital impression. From this, in some cases the criteria can even be global surface and / or volume criteria related to their respective digital impressions.

[0042] For ease of understanding, the various criteria are described below with reference to meshes. Those skilled in the art should recognize that similar criteria can be defined for other types of cells. For meshes, the topology is usually based on triangles. For this reason, the following criteria also apply equally to quadrilaterals or other simple polygon-based topologies.

[0043] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include, for example, a watertightness criterion indicating whether the mesh surface divides a space into two parts (e.g., an interior space versus an exterior space). For example, the watertightness criterion may assess the absence of holes in the mesh surface.

[0044] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include an inverted triangle criterion, which evaluates folded regions on the mesh surface where the surface normals of two neighboring triangles are in approximately opposite directions (e.g., subject to a threshold value).

[0045] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include an inverted normal criterion, which evaluates whether the surface normal points in the correct direction, e.g., to the outer subspace in the case of a watertight surface mesh.

[0046] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include a normal set criterion, which evaluates regions on the surface mesh that are identified as having the same or similar normals, for example flat regions.

[0047] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include triangle size criteria that evaluate the size for a triangle of relevant elements such as one or more of side length, side length ratio, angle between sides, and area of ​​the triangle.

[0048] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include a component count criterion, which evaluates the number of separate mesh components. In the case of watertight non-intersecting meshes, the components may represent separate objects. This analysis may be suitable for fragment or artifact detection.

[0049] Alternatively or additionally, the criteria may include a self-intersection criterion, which evaluates whether the surface mesh intersects with itself.

[0050] Depending on analyzing the cells with respect to the criteria, one or more cell correction processes or repair attempts can be performed. The cell correction processes may have different levels of compatibility. Light or minor modifications may include mesh operations that do not alter the geometry (e.g., triangle subdivision), but more intensive mesh modifications may also be performed. The cell correction processes or procedures may even be performed in a closed-loop manner, such that the process continuously or intermittently evaluates: the input mesh quality, the mesh quality after successful or partial success of the mesh repair, or all of them.

[0051] A dental procedure refers to any procedure that involves the use of or can benefit from a digital impression. For example, a dental procedure can be implant planning and / or design and / or manufacturing of a dental object such as an artificial tooth.

[0052] A neural network may derive its functionality at least in part from training data. A neural network may reduce computational power and improve speed. Moreover, a neural network may detect patterns or indications (e.g., in the inputs or input data provided to the neural network) that may be difficult to implement analytically. A neural network may be embedded in the form of software and / or hardware.

[0053] It should be appreciated that in this context, the neural network is parameterized according to the respective training data set. For example, an anatomical structure neural network is parameterized via its respective training data to detect one or more anatomical features. Feature engineering and training with the respective training data set thus allows the parameterization of the neural network.

[0054] A neural network may describe the relationship between its inputs and outputs as a function or one or more mathematical formulas. So-called grey-box, white-box and / or black-box methods may be employed.

[0055] The neural network may be trained in a supervised manner using anatomical training data comprising past digital impressions and / or cell placements with annotation data designating respective anatomical features. Alternatively or additionally, the anatomical neural network may be trained in an unsupervised manner.

[0056] When in inference mode, the neural network may be provided with the digital impression as an input and the neural network provides anatomical data as an output, the anatomical data comprising at least one annotation associated with at least one anatomical feature detected in the digital impression.

[0057] According to the invention, the anatomy neural network performs a segmentation operation on the cells to detect anatomical features. Alternatively or additionally, the anatomy neural network performs detection and / or localization operations to detect anatomical features.

[0058] According to the present invention, an anatomical neural network analyzes the digital impression to extract one or more interesting features, i.e. anatomical features, from which a semantic understanding of the digital impression or cell may be obtained.

[0059] A segmentation operation in this context refers to a computerized processing operation that ends in a boundary setting of at least one anatomical feature, e.g., a computer-generated feature boundary. The boundary may be achieved, for example, by grouping cells into a number of groups, at least one of which may be associated with a unique anatomical feature.

[0060] The neural network may perform a segmentation operation to detect one or more preselected anatomical features. From this, the anatomy neural network may segment the cells for detection. From this, the neural network may extract attributes or one or more objects or features of interest by analyzing the digital impression, or more specifically the cells. The anatomy neural network may classify all cells in the digital impression into classes according to their context, such that each cell is assigned to a specific object. For example, the segmentation operation may be a contour around a feature, such as a preselected anatomical feature, such as a specific tooth or even a group of teeth. Another example is a contour around a specific lesion. The segmented contour corresponds to the shape of each anatomical feature present in the digital impression. There may be multiple segmented objects in the digital impression.

[0061] According to the present invention, in addition to neural network approaches, the segmentation operation may be supplemented by any suitable segmentation algorithm, e.g., point and line detection, edge linking, and / or analytical models using thresholding methods, histograms, adaptive, and the like.

[0062] The segmentation operation may be based on the image through 2D, 3D segmentation. From this, objects or regions of interest may include teeth and / or tooth surfaces, gingival surfaces, foreign bodies, brackets, scanbody surfaces, but also point or line-based features such as tooth cusps and fissures. Features of interest may not be limited to cell or mesh surfaces, e.g., tooth centroids, and alternatively or additionally, features may also be subdivided into sub-features such as buccal vs. lingual dentin surfaces. Based on the segmentation, other metrics such as number of teeth may be derived.

[0063] The output of the segmentation operation may be used to analyze the cells with respect to criteria. For example, the semantic output of the segmentation operation may be used to evaluate the presence or absence of certain anatomical features in the digital impression. Alternatively or additionally, the segmentation operation output may comprise any one or more of cell-related qualities, such as consistency, watertightness, inverted triangles or normals, normal set, triangle or polygon size, or self-intersections.

[0064] A cell analyzer neural network refers to a network that is used at least in part to perform cell analysis, such as to analyze cells with respect to a reference. Additionally, in some cases, the cell analyzer neural network may also determine which dental procedures a digital impression can be used for and / or which dental procedures a digital impression cannot be used for.

[0065] A cell analyzer neural network refers to a neural network trained with cell analyzer training data comprising a plurality of past digital impressions, each of which is linked to at least one dental procedure for which the respective digital impression is suitable and / or at least one dental procedure for which the respective digital impression is not suitable. The criteria may be essentially defined by the cell analyzer neural network by being trained from the cell analyzer training data. In some cases, additional analysis calculation units may be provided to the cell analyzer neural network for additional criteria imposed on the cells. The additional analysis calculation units may be arranged in series, upstream and / or downstream, and / or in parallel.

[0066] A start signal refers to a signal generated in response to a cell analysis. The start signal may be used to manually and / or automatically start a dental procedure. For example, the start signal may be provided in an HMI to notify a user to start a dental procedure. Alternatively or additionally, the dental procedure may be started automatically.

[0067] Alternatively or additionally, the start signal may be used to start a cell correction procedure for creating a digital impression suitable for at least one predetermined dental procedure. As above, the start signal may be provided in the HMI to inform the user to start the cell correction procedure. Alternatively or additionally, the cell correction procedure may be started automatically. According to the present invention, the user is guided to perform the cell correction procedure. For example, the user may be guided to at least one location or part of the digital impression where the cell should be improved through restoration. The user may even be guided through the entire process, for example by continuously or intermittently evaluating the digital impression whether the digital impression has become suitable for the predetermined digital impression.

[0068] The end signal refers to a separate signal that is generated in response to cell analysis, although in some cases the start signal and the end signal may be the same signal.

[0069] The termination signal may be used to terminate the digital impression taking in response to the analysis, for example, manually and / or automatically. For example, the termination signal may be provided in an HMI to notify a user to terminate the digital impression taking. Alternatively or additionally, the digital impression taking may be terminated automatically. The termination signal may also be used as a start signal to start a dental procedure in any of the ways described above.

[0070] An advantage of such termination may be that as soon as a digital impression meets the cell criteria for a given one or more of the dental procedures, extra time does not need to be spent on acquiring further digital impressions.

[0071] It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that two or more components are "operably" coupled or connected. This means that there may be at least one communication connection between the coupled or connected components, e.g., they may be a network interface or any suitable interface. The communication connections may be either fixed or removable. Moreover, the communication connections may be either unidirectional or bidirectional. Furthermore, the communication connections may be wired and / or wireless. In some cases, the communication connections may also be used to provide control signals.

[0072] A computer processor refers to a circuit arrangement configured to perform basic operations of a computer or a system and / or a device configured to perform calculations. In particular, a computer processor may be configured to process basic instructions that drive a computer or a system. By way of example, a processing means or computer processor may comprise at least one arithmetic logic unit (ALU), at least one floating point unit (FPU), such as a mathematical coprocessor or a numeric coprocessor, a number of registers, in particular registers configured to provide operands to the ALU and to store the results of the operations, and memories, such as L1 and L2 cache memories. In particular, a computer processor may be a multi-core processor. In particular, a computer processor may be or comprise a central processing unit (CPU). A processing means or computer processor may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing microprocessor (RISC), a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, a processor implementing other instruction sets, or a processor implementing a combination of instruction sets. The processing means may also be one or more dedicated processing devices, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, or the like. The methods, systems, and devices disclosed herein may be implemented as machine learning software in a DSP, a microcontroller, or any other side processor, such as a hardware unit in an ASIC, a CPLD, or an FPGA. It should be understood that the term processor may also refer to one or more processing devices, such as a distributed system of processing devices located across multiple computer systems (such as cloud computing), and is not limited to a single device unless otherwise specified.

[0073] A memory storage device may refer to a device for storing information in the form of data in a suitable storage medium. Preferably, the memory storage device is a digital storage device suitable for storing information in a machine-readable digital form, e.g., digital data readable via a computer processor. The memory storage device may thus be realized as a digital memory storage device readable by a computer processor. More preferably, the memory storage device on the digital memory storage device may also be operated by a computer processor. For example, any part of the data recorded on the digital memory storage device may be written and / or erased and / or overwritten, partially or entirely, with new data by the computer processor.

[0074] A connection interface or a communication interface refers to a software and / or hardware interface for establishing communication, such as a transfer or exchange of signals or data. The communication can be either wired or wireless. The connection interface is preferably based on or supports one or more communication protocols. The communication protocol can be a wireless protocol, e.g. a short-range communication protocol such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or a long-range communication protocol such as a cellular or mobile network, e.g. a second generation cellular network (2G), 3G, 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 5G. Alternatively or additionally, the connection interface can be based on a proprietary short-range or even long-range protocol. The connection interface can support any one or more standard and / or proprietary protocols.

[0075] A "network" as discussed herein may be any suitable type of data transmission medium, wired, wireless, or a combination thereof. A network may thus refer to any suitable interconnection between at least one communication endpoint and another communication endpoint. A network may comprise one or more distribution points, routers, or other types of communication hardware. The network interconnections may be formed by physical hard wiring, optical and / or wireless radio frequency (RF) methods. A network may specifically be or comprise a physical network made entirely or partially by hard wiring, such as an optical fiber network, or a network made entirely or partially by conductive cables, or a combination thereof. A network may comprise, at least in part, the Internet.

[0076] A network interface refers to a group or device of one or more hardware and / or software components that enables an operable connection to a network.

[0077] In the following description, further aspects and advantages of the present invention are described in more detail using illustrative embodiments and by reference to the drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0078] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a scanning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 shows a flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 4 shows a flowchart according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0079] X, Y, Z: different dental procedures.

[0080] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram 104 of a digital dental system for recording craniofacial anatomical features. The system comprises a dental scanner 106. The dental scanner 106 is used for intraoral scanning of dental pathologies or oral anatomy 108 of a patient 110. The dental scanner 106 is used to provide a digital dental impression 122 of the oral anatomy of the patient 110. In this example, the digital impression 122 is displayed on a human machine interface (HMI) device 120 having a display. The digital impression 122 may be taken as part of a routine check or for a specific purpose, for example, to perform one or more dental procedures for the patient 110 and / or to manufacture one or more dental objects. The practitioner performing the scan may have to rely on his or her own experience to decide when the digital impression 122 is good enough. However, it may be difficult for the practitioner to have an idea of ​​the quality of the digital impression 122 for different purposes. Sometimes it may not be good enough, in which case the scan may have to be repeated partially or completely. In other cases, the scan will be performed more intensively than necessary for that purpose.

[0081] The dental scanner 106 is operably connected to a computing module 112 that includes a microprocessor and / or a neural network. In some cases, the computing module 112 may be at least partially located within the dental scanner 106. In some cases, the computing module 112 may be at least partially part of a cloud service 114. From this, the computing module 112 may be a local device at the location of the dental scanner 106 and / or at least partially remotely located devices or systems, such as one or more cloud services 114 and / or remote servers. The computing module 112 is also operably connected to a memory storage device or database 116, which may be at least partially part of the cloud service 114. In this case, the database 116 is shown as being provided in the cloud service 114. The dental scanner 106 may connect to the external computing module 112 via a connection interface (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1). Any local device, such as the dental scanner 106 and / or the local computing module 112, may connect to the cloud service 114 via one or more networks 118. A network interface (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1) may be used to connect a local device to a remote device, such as cloud service 114. In some cases, the network interface and the connection interface may be the same unit.

[0082] The computing module 112 may be operatively connected to the HMI 120, which is shown in FIG. 1 as a computer screen. The connection between the computing module 112 and the HMI 120 may be via an output interface (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1), which may be, for example, a computer port or bus, such as a display port, HDMI, USB, or the like. However, the output interface may even be an API for providing data to one or more computing units on the HMI 120 side. In some cases, the output interface may be part of a network interface and / or a connection interface. It is therefore possible that the three interfaces are the same device.

[0083] The dental scanner 106 comprises a sensor unit (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1 ) for imaging the surface of the oral anatomical structure 108 of the patient 110. A plurality of dental images of the oral anatomical structure 108 are generated via the dental scanner 106. Hence, during the scan, the dental scanner 106 is operated to capture a plurality of dental images of the oral anatomical structure 108. The dental images may be in the form of a data stream. These dental images are provided to the computation module 112. The computation module 112 is configured to provide a digital impression 122 from the dental images. The digital impression 122 consists of a plurality of cells, which may be a point cloud, a mesh, a voxel, a tetrahedron, or a combination thereof, depending on the type of the digital impression 122. The database 116 may be provided with data related to a plurality of dental procedures and with references corresponding to each of the dental procedures. Additionally, the digital impression 122 may also be provided in the database 116.

[0084] The system can execute a computer-implemented method for digital dentistry. The method includes providing patient-specific digital data of a patient, wherein the digital data comprises a digital dental impression of craniofacial anatomy, wherein the digital data is described in terms of a mesh, a point cloud, a voxel, a tetrahedron, or a combination thereof, and providing a database comprising a plurality of dental procedures and associated criteria that the digital data must satisfy so that the dental procedures can be applied to the digital data, wherein the dental procedures are either (i) diagnostic procedures related to wear diseases, caries, periodontitis, gingival atrophy, gingivitis, tooth surface loss syndrome, cracked tooth syndrome, pericoronitis, alveolar osteitis, jaw bone tumors and cysts, poor oral hygiene, temporomandibular joint disorders, or a combination thereof, or (ii) treatment planning procedures including dental applications related to crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, implants, aligners, brackets, dentures, bridges, or endodontic treatments, or a combination thereof, wherein the criteria are consistency, watertightness, inverted triangles, inverted normals, normal set, triangle size, number of components, self tolerance, span The method includes the steps of: analyzing the digital data to determine whether the digital data satisfies criteria described in terms of one or more of can bodies, noise, presence of pre-processed teeth, jaw integrity, full jaw scan or partial jaw scan, dental objects such as implants, abutments, brackets, and tooth misalignment, and whether the digital data has deficiencies such as inconsistencies and / or inconsistencies in mesh, point cloud, voxels, tetrahedrons, etc.; determining a level of applicability of the dental procedure to the provided digital data based on the analysis, wherein the level of applicability is determined through the extent to which the criteria are met by the provided digital data and the detected deficiencies, and the level of applicability is classified into three levels, where the dental procedure is either determined to be applicable when the criteria are met, determined to be not applicable when the criteria are not met, or determined to be applicable at the discretion of the user when one or more deficiencies are detected; and outputting the determined level of applicability to a practitioner.

[0085] Level of applicability of dental procedures In the following description, some examples are given that explain the level of applicability in more detail.

[0086] The calculation module 112 is configured to analyze the cells with respect to the criteria, and depending on the cell analysis, it is determined for which dental procedures the digital impression 122 can be used and / or for which dental procedures the digital impression 122 cannot be used.

[0087] A response to the analysis is provided and shown in the HMI 120, where the panel 102 is displayed with a number of dental procedures. In this example, six different dental procedures are shown in the panel 102 with their names and / or icons: a first dental procedure 124, a second dental procedure 126, a third dental procedure 128, a fourth dental procedure 130, a fifth dental procedure 132, and a sixth dental procedure 134. More specifically, in response to the cell analysis, it is determined that the digital impression 122 is suitable for the second dental procedure 126 and the fourth dental procedure 130, but not suitable for the first dental procedure 124, the third dental procedure 128, the fifth dental procedure 132, and the sixth dental procedure 134. The practitioner is then enabled to decide whether to further improve the digital impression 122 or to terminate the acquisition, thereby saving time and improving comfort for the patient 110. This decision can be made in the form of a quality score, which in this example is in a simple binary format for convenience for the practitioner. The level of applicability (quality score) indicates the degree to which the criteria is met by the provided data of the digital dental impression described in relation to the cell structure.

[0088] More specifically, the second quality score 138 and the fourth quality score 142 are shown as “plus” icons, which may represent that the digital impression 122 meets the criteria for the second dental procedure 126 and the fourth dental procedure 130, respectively.

[0089] The remaining quality scores for the dental procedures, i.e., first quality score 136, third quality score 140, fifth quality score 144, and sixth quality score 146, are each shown as a ``block'' icon indicating that the digital impression 122 is not suitable for the associated dental procedure, i.e., first dental procedure 124, third dental procedure 128, fifth dental procedure 132, and sixth dental procedure 134.

[0090] The quality score may even be represented at more discrete levels, for example similarly in a traffic light format as shown in Figure 3, where "green" means good quality, "yellow" means average or acceptable, and "red" means quality not suitable for a particular dental procedure. Alternatively or additionally, the quality score may be represented as a continuous or discrete number.

[0091] Optionally, in response to the analysis, one or more dental procedures and / or cell correction procedures may be initiated, for example via a start signal. Similarly, the acquisition of the digital impression 122 may be automatically terminated if one or more predetermined dental procedure cell criteria are met.

[0092] This can assist clinicians in making informed decisions while reducing scanning time to obtain a digital impression 122 suitable for one or more purposes.

[0093] The above methods can be applied to any kind of digital impression 122, not just those obtainable via intraoral scans.

[0094] 2 shows a flowchart 200 illustrating an aspect of the present invention. Flowchart 200 can be implemented, for example, as a routine executable by one or more computing units operably connected to a dental system or apparatus.

[0095] In block 202, a three-dimensional digital impression 122 of the craniofacial anatomy 108 is provided. The digital impression 122 comprises a number of cells, such as a mesh, a point cloud, a voxel, or a tetrahedron.

[0096] In block 204, the database 116 is provided or in the database 116, a plurality of dental procedures 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, and 134 and their corresponding criteria are provided.

[0097] In block 206, the criteria and deficiencies are analyzed.

[0098] At block 208, depending on the analysis, it is determined for which dental procedures the digital impression 122 may be used and / or for which dental procedures the digital impression 122 may not be used.

[0099] Further examples Example 1: Dental procedures are applicable: If the scanned preparation area is free of artifacts, the crown procedure is applicable. Free of artifacts means that the cell structure has no imperfections, i.e. no inconsistencies or discrepancies.

[0100] Example 2: Dental procedures are not applicable: - If the jaw is not fully scanned, the aligner procedure is not applicable since it requires a full jaw. - If no scanbody was detected on the digital impression, the abutment procedure is not applicable. - If no x-ray scan was found, the implant planning procedure is not applicable.

[0101] Example 3: Dental procedures are applicable at the user's discretion: - If holes are detected during the digital impression, the user can decide whether he wants to repair such imperfections. The holes can be repaired, i.e. closed automatically or manually, i.e. the inconsistencies and discrepancies are corrected. However, if the holes are in a position that does not compromise the crown calculation, the repair step can be omitted and the crown procedure can begin. -If the opposing jaw has not been scanned, the application of the crown procedure is not recommended as the occlusal contact situation will not be optimal.

[0102] Various embodiments and examples have been disclosed above for methods, software programs, and systems having software for performing the methods disclosed herein.

Claims

1. 1. A computer-implemented method for digital dentistry, comprising: providing patient-specific digital data of a patient, wherein the digital data comprises a digital dental impression of craniofacial anatomy, the digital data being described in terms of a mesh, a point cloud, voxels, tetrahedrons, or a combination thereof; providing a database comprising a plurality of dental procedures and associated criteria which the digital data must satisfy so that the dental procedures can be applied to the digital data, wherein the dental procedures are either (i) diagnostic procedures relating to wear diseases, caries, periodontitis, gingival atrophy, gingivitis, tooth surface loss syndrome, cracked tooth syndrome, pericoronitis, alveolar osteitis, jaw bone tumors and cysts, poor oral hygiene, temporomandibular joint disorders, or combinations thereof, or (ii) treatment planning procedures including dental applications relating to crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, implants, aligners, brackets, dentures, bridges, or endodontic treatments, or combinations thereof; the criteria are described in terms of one or more of: consistency, watertightness, inverted triangles, inverted normals, normal set, triangle size, number of components, self-tolerance, scanbodies, noise, presence of pre-processed teeth, jaw completeness, full jaw scan or partial jaw scan, dental objects such as implants, abutments, brackets, and tooth misalignment; Analyzing the digital data to determine whether the digital data meets the criteria and whether the digital data has imperfections such as inconsistencies and / or discrepancies in the mesh, point cloud, voxels, tetrahedrons, etc.; determining a level of applicability of the dental procedure to the provided digital data based on the analysis, wherein the level of applicability is determined through the degree of criteria met by the provided digital data and the deficiencies detected, and the level of applicability is classified into three levels, where the dental procedure is either determined to be applicable when the criteria are met, determined to be inapplicable when the criteria are not met, or determined to be applicable at the discretion of a user when one or more deficiencies are detected; outputting said determined level of applicability to a medical practitioner; 16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

2. selecting a dental procedure from among the applicable dental procedures and starting the selected dental procedure; or initiating a procedure to remedy the detected deficiencies in the digital data in response to the analysis, if the dental procedure is applicable only at the discretion of the practitioner. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the analysis is performed while the digital dental impression is being taken of the patient.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising terminating the taking of the digital dental impression in response to the analysis.

5. The computer-implemented method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the digital dental impression is provided in the form of one or more of the following data types: surface data, volumetric data, photograph, video, texture, articulator data, or treatment data.

6. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a computerized dental system, cause the dental system to carry out the computer-implemented method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. A dental system comprising a user interface, an image acquisition device, such as an intraoral scanner, an X-ray device or the like, for acquiring a digital dental impression, and a computing unit for performing the computer-implemented method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

Images