The present invention relates to a method and device for producing a dental component. The method comprises: a) providing a piece of material (10) attached to or held by a first holding means (12); b) shaping the piece of material to form the dental component (16) and at least one support pin (18) maintaining the dental component attached to the first holding means or the initial piece of material; c) engaging a second holding means (24) to the dental component while the dental component still is attached to the first holding means or the initial piece of material via the at least one support pin; and d) removing the at least one support pin from the dental component while the dental component is engaged by the second holding means.
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for occlusion estimation in dental prosthesis design. These include determining a first contact point between antagonist teeth, then simulating motion in order to determine additional contact points. Various of the determined contact points may not be used in the simulated motion, based on the simulated physics. When one or more predetermined stopping criteria have been met, then the contact points may be used to define the relative occlusal positions of antagonists. In some embodiments, sets of teeth in a bridge or crown, e.g., may be simulated as moving separately and a new state for each set of teeth may be determined.
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for adjusting dental prostheses based on soft tissue. These include allowing an operator to define the surface of a dental prosthesis, such as an abutment, that is proximal to the patient's gum relative to a 3D scan of the patient's gums. The operator can define the offset of that surface as well as the limits of that surface.
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for adjusting dental prostheses based on soft tissue. These include allowing an operator to define the surface of a dental prosthesis, such as an abutment, that is proximal to the patient's gum relative to a 3D scan of the patient's gums. The operator can define the offset of that surface as well as the limits of that surface.
A61C 13/34 - Making or working of models, e.g. preliminary castings, trial denturesDowel pins
A61C 19/04 - Measuring instruments specially adapted for dentistry
G06F 19/00 - Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific applications (specially adapted for specific functions G06F 17/00;data processing systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial, supervisory or forecasting purposes G06Q;healthcare informatics G16H)
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for occlusion estimation in dental prosthesis design. These include determining a first contact point between antagonist teeth, then simulating motion in order to determine additional contact points. Various of the determined contact points may not be used in the simulated motion, based on the simulated physics. When one or more predetermined stopping criteria have been met, then the contact points may be used to define the relative occlusal positions of antagonists. In some embodiments, sets of teeth in a bridge or crown, e.g., may be simulated as moving separately and a new state for each set of teeth may be determined.
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for crown or prosthesis manipulation in dental prosthesis design. These include presenting a 3D model of a multi-tooth prosthesis relative to an area to be reconstructed. An operator may manipulate one or more prosthetic teeth in that 3D model in order to alter the overall shape of the prosthesis. In various embodiments, the techniques may also include the determination of occlusion with respect to antagonist teeth - of the entire 3D model of the prosthesis and/or of individual 3D models of prosthetic teeth in the model. The position or shape of the 3D model of the prosthesis may be modified based on the occlusion.
Herein are provided methods, systems, computer-readable media, techniques and processes for surface manipulation in dental prosthesis design. These include providing an interface for modifying the surface of a model of a dental prosthesis. This interface may be provided to an operator, dentist, dental practitioner, or any other appropriate person via a computer and a computer display. The operator provides areas in which the operator would like to add a layer or other limited manipulation to the surface of the model. This may include an addition to the surface or a subtraction from the surface. As the operator is defining additional areas to manipulate on the surface (e.g., add or subtract a layer), invariably some of them will overlap. Unlike previous methods, this overlap will not cause the amount added to the surface to increase beyond the predefined limit for the layer. This allows operators to define cleanly added layers or cleanly subtracted layers from dental prostheses.
G06F 19/00 - Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific applications (specially adapted for specific functions G06F 17/00;data processing systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial, supervisory or forecasting purposes G06Q;healthcare informatics G16H)
Presented herein are methods, systems, devices, and computer-readable media for dental prosthesis connector design. Embodiments include providing a computer-based interface for manipulating a connector that connects a first dental restoration component and a second dental restoration component in a dental prosthesis; providing, via a cross-sectional representation of the connector, an acceptability design constraint for the connector, such as whether the connector meets production constraints and/or encompasses the intersection between neighboring teeth; modifying the connector based on operator input; determining whether the modified connector is acceptable with respect to the acceptability design constraint; and providing an acceptability indication for the modified connector, wherein said the acceptability indication is determined based at least in part on whether the modified connector is acceptable with respect to the acceptability design constraint.
G06F 17/00 - Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions
G06F 19/00 - Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific applications (specially adapted for specific functions G06F 17/00;data processing systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial, supervisory or forecasting purposes G06Q;healthcare informatics G16H)
A male-male connector is disclosed for mounting an abutment to a dental implant. The male-male connector comprises first male connecting means extending in a first direction for engaging the dental implant. The male-male connector further comprises second male connecting means extending in a second direction opposite to the first direction for engaging a corresponding female connecting portion located inside a bottom portion of the abutment. The second male connecting means comprises at least one anti-rotational element adapted for mating with second positioning means on the female connecting portion of the abutment. The at least one anti-rotational element and the second positioning means have substantially complementary shapes. In preferred embodiments, the complementary shapes of the least one anti-rotational element and the second positioning means is such that only one rotational alignment position is possible between the male-male connector and the asymmetric abutment. Also described are attachments for securing a prosthetic crown to a dental implant, kits and prosthetic teeth comprising a male-male connector or and attachment described herein, and also methods for manufacturing an asymmetric abutment for installation in a unique position in a patient's mouth.
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