Dental Prosthesis Design Using Digital Arch Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for fabricating dental prostheses are time-consuming, inefficient, and burdensome for both practitioners and patients, leading to prolonged treatment periods, interim edentulousness challenges, and suboptimal prosthesis fit and function.
Innovation Solution
An integrated system utilizing a pliable, moldable arch-shaped apparatus to accurately register maxillary and mandibular positional relationships, combined with direct optical scanning or referenced oral scan data, to digitally model the dentition and streamline the fabrication process into a single patient office visit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional impression taking and iterative appointment process are used, then prosthesis fabrication can be completed, but treatment time is prolonged and patient convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical impression taking materials and iterative adjustment processes with a digital scanning system and virtual try-on technology. The intraoral scanner captures precise anatomical data digitally, eliminating the need for physical impression materials and multiple appointment iterations, thereby reducing treatment time while maintaining prosthesis fit quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates accurate digital copies of the patient's oral anatomy through scanning technology. These digital models serve as virtual replicas that can be manipulated, analyzed, and used for prosthesis design without requiring physical impressions or multiple patient visits, thus shortening treatment duration while preserving manufacturing precision
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple appointment visits are required, then prosthesis design and fabrication can be refined, but patient quality of life deteriorates due to interim edentulousness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes the traditional multi-appointment mechanical adjustment process with a digital workflow that allows comprehensive prosthesis design and virtual verification in a single visit. The digital system enables precise design adjustments without requiring patients to return for multiple trial fittings, thereby maintaining design accuracy while significantly improving patient convenience and quality of life
3Ease of manufacture
If digital scanning is used, then impression taking is simplified, but the overall workflow remains protracted due to coordination with offsite laboratories
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the prosthesis design, fabrication, and delivery processes into an integrated on-site workflow. By combining the digital scanning capability with in-house design software and rapid prototyping equipment, the system eliminates the need for offsite laboratory coordination, thereby maintaining the simplicity of digital impression taking while dramatically accelerating prosthesis delivery speed
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments thereof, the present invention discloses systems and methods for expeditiously designing and fabricating properly-fitted dental prostheses. A customizable arch-shaped apparatus approximating dentition is employed intraorally to register positional and relational characteristics between maxillary and mandibular arches, including the vertical dimension of occlusion. The apparatus is configured to allow accurate interface with oral anatomy via its constituent material(s) being pliable and moldable preferably but not necessarily when heated. Representations of dentition may be integrated on the apparatus to aid proper positioning. Intraoral scan data detailing precise arch dimensions is either referenced from pre-existing patient records or procured through digital oral scanning of the apparatus in situ. The registered positional relationships and acquired scan data are jointly utilized to virtually model and subsequently manufacture bridgework, veneers or dentures; the apparatus allowing dentition to be modeled and fabricated in a singular office visit prior to a final, confirmatory try-in where minor adjustments may ensue.