Dental Arch Scan Registration for Wear and Recession Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dental practitioners face challenges in identifying subtle changes in a patient's dentition due to scanner inaccuracies in intraoral scans, which make comparisons between images difficult and obscure clinically significant changes such as tooth wear and gum recession.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that compares first and second image data of a dental arch to separate differences caused by scanner inaccuracy from clinically significant changes, using image registration and filtering techniques to accentuate and classify these changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If intraoral scanners are used to capture dental images, then image acquisition efficiency is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to scanner inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a reference surface with known geometric features as an intermediary between the scanner and the dental structures. This reference surface serves as a mediator that provides stable, known reference points for registration, allowing the system to compensate for scanner inaccuracies without reducing acquisition speed. The reference surface acts as a common coordinate system that bridges multiple scans taken by imperfect scanners.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy of the reference surface and uses it for registration purposes. By working with a digital representation rather than directly comparing raw scan data, the system can apply mathematical transformations to correct scanner errors. The digital copy allows for precise, repeatable registration that is independent of scanner variability.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If multiple intraoral scans are compared for longitudinal analysis, then detection capability is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to scanner errors making comparison difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The reference surface serves as a mediator that all scans are registered to, creating a common reference frame. This eliminates the problem of comparing scans directly to each other, which would amplify scanner errors. Instead, each scan is independently registered to the same reference, making comparisons reliable and repeatable across multiple time points.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the known geometry of the reference surface to provide feedback on scanner positioning and orientation. By comparing actual scan data against the known reference geometry, the system can detect and correct for scanner errors, improving the reliability of longitudinal comparisons.
3Device complexity
If visual inspection is used for dental assessment, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to inability to detect subtle changes
Solution Approach 1:
The reference surface acts as an intermediary that enables automated, precise measurement without requiring complex multi-scanner systems. By providing stable reference points, it allows a single scanner to achieve high measurement precision through registration, maintaining system simplicity while dramatically improving detection capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a scanner configured to generate image data of dental arches, a data store configured to store the image data, and a computing device. The computing device is to: perform an analysis of a representation of a dental arch from first image data and a second representation of the dental arch from second image data; determine that gingival recession has occurred at first regions and that tooth wear has occurred at second regions based on the analysis; generate a first color visual overlay that identifies the first regions; generate a second color visual overlay that identifies the second regions; receive user selection of at least one type of clinical issue on the dental arch; and output, to a display and in accordance with the user selection, the representation of the dental arch and at least one of the first color visual overlay or the second color visual overlay.