Dental analysis method and system   

This application claims the benefits of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/709,460 filed Aug. 19, 2005 and No. 60/748,196 filed Dec. 8, 2005; which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a dental analysis method and system. More specifically, the present invention relates to an analysis method and system for the evaluation, planning and modification of the dentition of a patient.

In the study of what is considered “beautiful”, in nature, human features, architecture, art, etc., it was discovered that there is a common principle at work. This common principle is the universal recognition of pleasant proportions. People have an inherent ability to recognize that an art object has good or bad proportions, or that a person\'s torso compared to his/her legs looks too long, or too short and out of proportion. This universal common principle thread of proportion, known since antiquity, is referred to the Golden Proportion or Divine Proportion.

Human beauty is also governed by the Golden Proportion. Squares based The Golden Proportion have been used to define the ideal location of the pupils and outside corners of the mouth. Lines based on the Golden Proportion have been used to define, for example, the ideal positioning of the nose, the tip of the nose, the inside of the nostrils, the two rises of the upper lip, the inner points of the ear, the distance from the upper lip to the bottom of the chin, as well as the width of the nose, the distance between the eyes and eye brows and the distance from the pupils to the tip of the nose.

The Golden Proportion has also been used to study the human dentition. The four front teeth, from central incisor to premolar constitute the most significant part of the dentition and they are in the proportion to each other following the Golden Proportion. This phenomenon has been combined in a grid which may be used to assist in perfecting the aesthetics of the front teeth. However, such grid may be used only for the front four teeth and in some instances the front six teeth but with mitigated results. Accordingly, there is a need for a modified

In the present specification, there is described embodiments of a method and system designed to overcome the above-described limitations of the conventional techniques.

SUMMARY

The present invention relates to a method and system for designing the dentition of a patient, comprising the steps of: inputting a value representative of the number of teeth on each side of the dentition; inputting at least two quantities taken from a group consisting of a ratio, an inter-molar distance and a central incisor width; and computing the position of the teeth within the patient\'s dentition by applying a mathematical function to the value representative of the number of teeth on each side of the dentition and the at least two quantities.

The present invention also relates to a method and system for designing the dentition of a patient, comprising the steps of: providing a visual representation of the dentition; inputting a value representative of the number of teeth on a side of the dentition; inputting at least two quantities taken from a group consisting of a ratio, an inter-teeth distance and a central incisor width; computing the position of the teeth within the dentition by applying a mathematical function to the value representative of the number of teeth on a side of the dentition and the at least two quantities; and juxtaposing positioning lines over the visual representation of the dentition, the positioning lines indicating the position of the teeth as computed in step d.

The present invention further relates to a method and system for designing the dentition of a patient as described above, further comprising the steps of adjusting the angle of at least one of the positioning lines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A non-limitative illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the Golden Proportion concept;

FIG. 2 is a front view illustration of the upper teeth of an individual;

FIG. 3 is a front view image of the smile of an individual on which are superimposed positioning lines following a Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.618;

FIG. 4 is a front view image of the smile of an individual on which are superimposed positioning lines following the modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are front views of an image of the smile of an individual on which are superimposed angled positioning lines;

FIG. 6 is a front view image of the smile of an individual on which are superimposed two measurement reference points;

FIG. 7 is a front view image of the smile of an individual on which is superimposed a measuring rule;

FIG. 8 is a front view image of the smile of an individual on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367 and a measuring rule;

FIG. 9 is a front view image of the dentition of a virtual diagnostic wax-up on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367;

FIG. 10 is a front view image of the dentition of a virtual diagnostic wax-up on which are superimposed angled positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a diagnostic grid used for laboratory work on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38;

FIG. 12 is a front view image of the smile of a diagnostic wax-up positioned on top of a diagnostic grid on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38;

FIG. 13 is a front view image of the dentition of a diagnostic wax-up positioned on top of a diagnostic grid on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38 and a common diagnostic grid on which are superimposed positioning lines following a Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.618;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of an alternative diagnostic grid for use in an individual\'s mouth on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38;

FIG. 15 is a front view image of the smile of an individual with the alternative diagnostic grid, on which are superimposed positioning lines following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38, positioned between his or her upper and lower teeth;

FIG. 16 is a front view illustration of a modified Golden Proportion gauge having three points mechanically following a Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.38;

FIG. 17 is a front view image of the dentition of an individual to which is applied a modified Golden Proportion gauge having three points mechanically following a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367;

FIGS. 18A, 18B and 18C are bottom views of the upper teeth of an individual on which are superimposed positioning lines with an associated inter-molar distance;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram depicting the modified Golden Proportion calculator process;

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram depicting teeth position computing step of the modified Golden Proportion calculator process of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is an example of a modified Golden Proportion calculator interface; and

FIG. 22 is a front view image of the smile of an individual having received corrective crowns following the modified Golden Proportion shown in FIG. 21.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally stated, the non-limitative illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a method and system for the evaluation, planning and modification of the dentition of an individual, such as, for example, a patient, by the application of generally vertical lines, hereby referred to as “positioning lines”, following a modified Golden Proportion, which may be determined either explicitly or implicitly from measurements such as, for example, central incisor width and inter-molar distance, onto the dentition of the patient in order to determine “ideal” positioning of the patient\'s teeth. In one embodiment, the resulting positioning lines may be applied to 2D or 3D digital images, X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, etc., of the patient\'s dentition or may be included as part of a modeling or re-modeling software to dispose the teeth when creating, for example, ceramic teeth, orthodontic molds, dentures, etc. In a further embodiment, the positioning lines may be angled at a specific angle in order to address an occlusion condition or for aesthetical considerations.

The Golden Proportion, or Divine Proportion, represents a ratio of 1:1.618. It has been used in a multitude of applications and is well known in the art. Briefly speaking, referring to FIG. 1 the Golden Proportion may be expressed as:

AB CB = CB A   C  = 1.   6   1   8. Equation   1

For example, if the distance AB is 10 mm, then the distance AC will be 3.82 mm and CB will be 6.18 mm.

Referring to FIG. 2, the dentition (10) generally comprises the central incisor (11), the lateral incisor (12), the canine (13), the first premolar (14), the second premolar (15) and the first molar (16). The second (17) and third (18) molars are usually not visible in the smile. It is to be understood that for the purpose of clarity FIG. 2 only shows the left side of the dentition (10), the right side being symmetrical.

For the sake of clarity, from thereon reference will be made to the positioning lines on either the left side or the right side of the dentition (10) but it is to be understood that by virtue of symmetry, the same comments apply to the positioning lines on other side of the dentition (10).

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a front view image of a patient\'s dentition (10) on which is applied the Golden Proportion (ratio of 1:1.618) with seven positioning lines, resulting in a center positioning line (26) and six side positioning lines (25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20) on one side of the dentition (10). The center positioning line (26) is positioned at the center of the dentition (10) and the last side positioning line (20) is positioned by the user such that the second positioning line (25) is positioned between the central incisor (11) and the lateral incisor (12). Once the first (26) and last positioning lines (20) are positioned, the remaining side positioning lines (25, 24, 23, 22, 21) are computed using the Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.618. As may be seen in FIG. 3, the position of the central incisor (11) and the lateral incisor (12) generally correspond to side positioning lines (25) and (24), respectively, but the position of the canine (13) does not fit with side positioning line (23), the side positioning line (23) actually passing in the middle of the canine (13).

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown an image of the patient\'s smile on which is applied the modified Golden Proportion (ratio of 1:1.367) with seven positioning lines, resulting in a center positioning line (6) and six side positioning lines (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0) on one side of the dentition (10). The center positioning line (6) is fixed at the center of the dentition (10) and the last side positioning line (0) is positioned by the user, advantageously on the buccal face of the first molar (16), the remaining side positioning lines (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) being computed using the modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367. As may be seen in FIG. 4, the position of the central incisor (11), the lateral incisor (12), the canine (13) and the first premolar (14) generally correspond to side positioning lines (5), (4), (3) and (2), respectively. In an idealized view, shown in FIG. 9, it may be seen that the modified Golden Proportion may be used to position the central incisor (11), the lateral incisor (12), the canine (13), the first premolar (14), the second premolar (15) and the first molar (16) on a virtual wax-up of a patient using side positioning lines (5), (4), (3), (2), (1) and (0), respectively. Furthermore, referring to FIG. 12, the modified Golden Proportion may be used with a real wax-up of the patient, which in turn is used to create, for example, crowns for the patient. Thus, in this illustrative embodiment, using the modified Golden Proportion, 12 front teeth (six on each side) of the dentition (10) were positioned instead of only four, as seen in FIG. 3. It is to be understood that the same technique described above using seven positioning lines for the positioning of 12 front teeth may also be extended to, for example, nine positioning lines permitting the positioning of 16 teeth. The number of teeth visible in the smile may vary from patient to patient depending on the physiognomy of the patient.

Although in a modified Golden Proportion with a ratio of 1:1.367 was used in FIG. 4, it is to be understood that it may vary depending on the physiognomy of the patient or the desired aesthetical effect. Common ratio values may be, for example, from 1:1.250 to 1:1.500, though more commonly from 1:1.360 and 1:1.400, and with rare occurrences from 1:1.500 and 1:1.618. It should also be understood that when using software tools, such as the modified Golden Proportion calculator which will be introduced further on, the modified Golden Proportion ratio is not limited to three decimals and may vary in precision depending on the application. For example, FIG. 19 shows an interface (200) for a modified Golden Proportion calculator in which the modified Golden Proportion ratio (208) is precise up to 13 decimals, i.e. 1.3876540544138.

As mentioned above, the central positioning line (6) is placed in the center of the smile and dentition (10) and the last side positioning line (0) is positioned by the user, advantageously on the buccal face of the first molar (16), the remaining side positioning lines (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) being computed using the modified Golden Proportion for a given ratio. The side positioning lines (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) may be computed as follows:

P(i)=P(i−1)−D/Fi,i=1 to n−2;  Equation 2

where n is the number of positioning lines; P(i) is the position of positioning line(i), i=0 to n−1; P(0) and P(n−1) are given; D is the distance between positioning lines (0) and (n−1), i.e. [P(0)−P(n−1)];

F 1 = ∑ j = 0 n - 2  R j ; Equation   3 F 1 = F i - 1 / R ; and Equation

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