System and method for fabricating a dental restoration

Abstract

A system for fabricating a dental restoration to restore a tooth at a restoration site in a dentition of a patient is disclosed. The dentition includes a restoration dental arch and an opposing dental arch. The restoration dental arch include the restoration site and the opposing dental arch is opposite the restoration dental arch. The system includes an impression apparatus, a motion capture apparatus, an interface apparatus, and a restoration design system. The impression apparatus is configured to capture an impression of the dentition of the patient. The motion capture apparatus is configured to capture a plurality of location data points that represent the locations of the opposing dental arch relative to the restoration dental arch. The interference model generation system is configured to generate an interference model for the restoration site. The restoration design system is for designing a restoration using the interference model.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of designing a dental restoration to restore a tooth at a restoration site in a dentition of a patient, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a computing device comprising a processing device, a digital dental impression of the dentition of the patient, the dentition including the restoration site;   receiving instructions from the processing device at a design system of the computing device, instructing a first program module of the design system to generate a digital model of the dentition from the digital dental impression;   receiving, at a user interface of the computing device, a restoration prescription defining an identity of the tooth to be restored and a type of restoration to be fabricated;   receiving, at the computing device, motion data generated from optical measurements of jaw movements of the patient as the dentition of the patient is moved between a plurality of bite positions;   receiving instructions from the processing device at the design system, instructing the first program module to generate interference model data by sweeping the digital model along a movement path recorded in the motion data;   receiving instructions from the processing device at the design system, instructing a second program module of the design system to generate dental restoration data based on the digital model and the interference model data; and   designing the dental restoration using the dental restoration data so that the dental restoration does not interfere with the patient's dentition.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital dental impression includes at least one a point cloud, a polygonal mesh, a parametric model, and voxel date. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital model is a three-dimensional model. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dentition includes a first dental arch, the first dental arch including the restoration site; and
 a second dental arch, the second dental arch opposite the restoration site.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the optical measurements are extracted from image data or video data recorded of the dentition of the patient as a first dental arch and a second dental arch move relative to one another. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the movement path is created from the motion data. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein an inference model is created from a composite of the relative locations of a first dental arch, a second dental arch, and the movement path. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dental restoration data is generated automatically by the computing device. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dental restoration data is generated by a user operating the user interface. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an interference model is created from the interference model data; and
 wherein the interference model includes an interference surface defining where the dental restoration would interfere with the dentition of the patient in at least one bite position of the plurality of bite positions.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein designing the dental restoration comprises:
 generating dental restoration data representing the dental restoration;   calculating a distance between a first surface represented by the dental restoration data and a second surface represented by the interference model data;   assigning colors to regions of the first surface represented by the dental restoration data based on the calculated distance; and   visualizing the dental restoration.   
     
     
         12 . A system for designing a dental restoration to restore one or more teeth at a restoration site in a dentition of a patient, wherein the dentition includes a restoration dental arch including the restoration site and an opposing dental arch opposite the restoration dental arch, the system comprising:
 at least one processing device;   a design system; and   at least one memory device comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, perform operations comprising:
 receiving a digital impression of the dentition; 
 receiving instructions from the at least one processing device at the design system, instructing a first program module of the design system to generate a digital dental model from the digital impression; 
 receiving motion data generated from optical measurements of the restoration dental arch moving relative to the opposing dental arch as the dentition is moved between a plurality of bite positions; 
 extracting an interference surface from the motion data; 
 receiving instructions from the at least one processing device at the design system, instructing the first program module to generate an interference model from the digital dental model and the motion data, the interference model including an interference surface representing locations of the opposing dental arch in the plurality of bite positions; 
 receiving a restoration prescription; 
 receiving instructions from the at least one processing device at the design system, instructing a second program module to generate dental restoration data representing the dental restoration using the interference model and the restoration prescription; and 
 calculating a distance between a first surface represented by the dental restoration data and a second surface represented by the interference model. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the digital impression is created by a 3D scanner scanning the patient's dentition. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the motion data is generated by a motion capture station. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein a movement path is created based on the motion data. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise visualizing the dental restoration on a user interface. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise assigning colors to regions of the first surface represented by the dental restoration data based on the calculated distances and displaying the colors on a user interface. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving an input from an operation at a user interface to adjust the dental restoration data;   generating an updated dental restoration based on the input; and   visualizing the updated dental restoration on the user interface.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the distance is calculated by determining for each of a plurality of vertices of the first surface represented by the dental restoration data a nearest point on the second surface represented by the interference model and calculating a distance between each vertex and each corresponding point.