Dentistry – Method or material for testing – treating – restoring – or...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-21
2001-02-20
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3732)
Dentistry
Method or material for testing, treating, restoring, or...
C433S026000, C433S203100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06190170
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to systems for color matching and, more specifically, to systems for analyzing and matching tooth shades. Such systems are of particular use in manufacturing dental prosthetics (e.g., crowns, bridges, veneers, and prosthetic teeth) to repair, replace or alter natural teeth, in various dental tooth whitening procedures and to enable communication between patient, dentist and lab technician concerning such procedures.
2. State of the Art
Dentists often repair or replace a diseased, damaged, or unsightly natural tooth of a patient with a crown, bridge, veneer, or prosthetic tooth. One obvious goal in performing such a repair or replacement is to provide the patient with a natural-looking smile despite the presence of the prosthesis. Attempts to reach this goal generally involve matching the color of the prosthesis to the color of the natural tooth being repaired or replaced, and to the colors of the natural teeth that are adjacent where the prosthesis will be placed.
Similarly, dentists often perform various tooth whitening procedures on a patient's natural teeth to reverse the effects of aging, coffee drinking, smoking, and similar activities on the patient's dental appearance. The goal in such procedures is also to provide the patient with a natural-looking smile, and attempts to reach this goal also generally involve color matching.
To this end, manufacturers of the various colored porcelains, resins, compomers ceramers or other direct restorative materials conventionally used in making dental prosthetics, or in repairing discolored, chipped, broken or malformed teeth, typically provide color matching shade guides to dentists which illustrate the various colored porcelains available. As shown in
FIG. 1
, one such shade guide
10
includes a variety of shade tabs
12
, each made of a different colored porcelain available from a manufacturer. A dentist determines the color of a patient's natural teeth by detaching individual shade tabs
12
from the shade guide
10
and holding the shade tabs
12
next to the patient's natural teeth for comparison. Once a color match is found, the dentist orders a dental prosthesis from a dental laboratory in the matching colored porcelain or other material, or, if the patient's teeth are being whitened, the dentist uses the color match as a base against which to compare the eventual results of the whitening process.
This somewhat rudimentary method often provides less than desirable results because of the inaccuracy inherent in the dentist “eyeballing” the color match. Poor lighting, poor vision, eye fatigue, conflicting ambient colors or even lack of patient cooperation in the process, among other things, can cause the dentist to miss the best match. More importantly, the best match is often a combination of two or more colored porcelains, sometimes from different manufacturers, which is difficult to discern by the human eye.
Accordingly, a variety of mechanical and electronic devices have been devised to aid in matching tooth shades. Some of these devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,766,006 to Murljacic, 5,759,030 to Jung et al., 5,690,486 to Zigelbaum, 5,529,492 to Yarovesky et al., 5,383,020 to Vieillefosse, 5,055,040 to Clar, 4,654,794 to O'Brien, and 4,110,826 to Möllgaard. Unfortunately, none of these devices has been very successful in advancing the tooth shade matching process much beyond the “eyeballing” procedure described above.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved tooth shade matching system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a computer-aided system provides apparatus and methods for capturing an image of a patient's teeth and analyzing such image with respect to the inherent tooth coloration and shading characteristics of the patient's teeth for the purposes of reproducing such inherent coloration and shading in restorative procedures and prosthetics.
In one embodiment of the invention, for example, a dental prosthesis for a patient is made by acquiring at least one image of the patient's teeth which contains normalization references. The image is then normalized in accordance with the normalization references. Next, the normalized image is standardized by matching the normalized image to selected shade standards, and the dental prosthesis is then made in accordance with the standardized image. The prosthesis may then be compared with the normalized image to assure a satisfactory product. The analysis and matching system of the present invention may be used not only in producing replacement prosthetics, such as dentures, bridges or caps, but is used in the restoration of broken, chipped or otherwise damaged or malformed teeth.
In another embodiment of this invention, a patient's teeth are whitened by acquiring at least one pre-whitening image of the patient's teeth, the image containing normalization references. The pre-whitening image is normalized in accordance with the normalization references contained therein, and the normalized pre-whitening image is then standardized by matching the normalized image to selected shade standards. The patient's teeth are then whitened. After whitening the patient's teeth, at least one post-whitening image of the patient's teeth containing normalization references is acquired, the post-whitening image is normalized in accordance with the normalization references contained therein, and the normalized post-whitening image is standardized by matching the normalized image to selected shade standards. Then, the standardized pre-whitening image and the standardized post-whitening image are compared.
In still another embodiment, image analysis is performed on a patient's teeth by acquiring at least one image of the patient's teeth containing normalization references. The image is then normalized in accordance with the normalization references contained therein, and the normalized image is standardized by matching the normalized image to selected shade standards. Communication between doctor, patient and lab technician is facilitated through the invention to provide each with the ability to select desired shades and/or colors of the eventual prosthesis, such as in cases of dental restoration, where a full or partial set of dentures is being produced.
In a further embodiment of this invention, a computer-readable storage medium stores a program for causing a computer to operate in accordance with the method for performing image analysis on a patient's teeth described immediately above.
In yet another embodiment, an apparatus for performing image analysis on a patient's teeth includes an input device for acquiring at least one image of the patient's teeth, the image containing normalization standards. Another device coupled to the input device normalizes the image in accordance with the normalization references contained therein and matches the normalized image to selected shade standards to standardize the normalized image.
In an additional embodiment of this invention, an electronic system incorporates the apparatus described immediately above.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3986777 (1976-10-01), Roll
patent: 4110826 (1978-08-01), Mollgaard et al.
patent: 4654794 (1987-03-01), O'Brien
patent: 4813000 (1989-03-01), Wyman et al.
patent: 5055040 (1991-10-01), Clar
patent: 5383020 (1995-01-01), Vieillefosse
patent: 5529492 (1996-06-01), Yarovesky et al.
patent: 5690486 (1997-11-01), Zigelbaum
patent: 5745229 (1998-04-01), Jung et al.
patent: 5759030 (1998-06-01), Jung et al.
patent: 5766006 (1998-06-01),
Mabrito Craig A.
Morris Alan C.
Roberts Matthew R.
DenTech, LLC
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
Trask & Britt
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