Dental Preparation Surface Evaluation for Prosthesis Thickness Fit
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dental practitioners face challenges in preparing dental prosthesis surfaces, often requiring additional appointments and excessive removal of healthy tissue due to uncertainties in fitting, leading to suboptimal solutions like grinding down opposing teeth or prostheses.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method for evaluating dental preparation surfaces using intraoral scanning and 3D modeling to assess attainable and minimum thicknesses, allowing adjustments to be made in a single session, ensuring accurate prosthesis design without unnecessary tissue removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dental practitioner removes more material from the prosthesis site to ensure proper fit, then the reliability of prosthesis fitting is improved, but healthy tissue is unnecessarily removed and the prosthesis site is weakened
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation of the preparation surface using 3D digital modeling and intraoral scanning before prosthesis manufacturing. This allows the practitioner to assess whether sufficient healthy tissue remains after preparation, and to plan the prosthesis design in advance to ensure proper fit without excessive material removal. The evaluation is conducted prior to the irreversible action of removing additional tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback to the dental practitioner about the preparation surface quality, including thickness measurements and fitness assessments. This feedback loop allows the practitioner to adjust the preparation surface before prosthesis manufacturing, ensuring that healthy tissue is preserved while maintaining adequate space for the prosthesis. The feedback prevents the need for additional corrective appointments.
2Manufacturing precision
If a dental practitioner schedules an additional appointment to redo the preparation when the prosthesis does not fit, then the prosthesis fitting accuracy is improved, but time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation of the preparation surface and prosthesis design compatibility before manufacturing begins. By assessing the preparation surface quality and predicting potential fitting issues in advance, the system allows adjustments to be made during the same appointment, preventing the need for additional visits and ensuring accurate fit on the first attempt.
3Ease of operation
If a dental practitioner grinds down the opposing tooth or manufactured dental prosthesis to resolve fitting issues, then the prosthesis can be fitted, but this is a suboptimal solution that damages other structures
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation to identify potential fitting problems before they occur. By detecting issues with the preparation surface or prosthesis design in advance, the system allows corrective actions to be taken on the original structures without needing to damage opposing teeth or the manufactured prosthesis. This prevents the need for suboptimal solutions that would harm other dental structures.
4Device complexity
If conventional evaluation methods are used without considering manufacturing limitations, then the evaluation process is simple, but the prosthesis may not be manufacturable with required thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The system integrates multiple evaluation functions into a single comprehensive platform. It simultaneously assesses the preparation surface geometry, calculates attainable thickness, evaluates prosthesis design options, and checks compatibility with milling machine capabilities. This multi-functional approach maintains ease of use while ensuring manufacturing precision through automated calculations and guidelines.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method and system of evaluating a dental preparation surface, including obtaining a digital oral situation and/or a portion thereof including a preparation surface. evaluating an attainable thickness based on the preparation surface and surroundings and comparing the attainable thickness to minimum thickness.