Patents by Inventor Shawna L. Thomas

Shawna L. Thomas has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20220160469
    Abstract: A method for generating and reusing digital setups for an orthodontic treatment path. The method receives a digital 3D model of teeth, optionally performs interproximal reduction on the model, and generates an initial treatment path with stages including an initial, final, and intermediate setups. The method divides the initial treatment path into initial steps of feasible motion of the teeth resulting in a final treatment path with setups corresponding with the initial steps. For a treatment redesign, the method computes new steps of feasible motion for only a portion of the initial treatment path and based upon the initial steps, and generates the final treatment path with new setups corresponding with the new steps. The setups can be used to make orthodontic appliances, such as clear tray aligners.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: Alexandra R. Cunliffe, Guruprasad Somasundaram, Benjamin D. Zimmer, Nitsan Ben-Gal Nguyen, Vera Shuman, Nancy M. Amato, Shawna L. Thomas
  • Publication number: 20220054234
    Abstract: Methods for automatically removing collisions between digital mesh objects and moving digital mesh objects between spatial arrangements. The collisions are removed from a set of digital mesh objects using a perturbation method or a mesh deformation method. After removing the collisions, the digital mesh objects are output in a state without collisions between them. The digital mesh objects can be moved between initial and final states based upon motion constraints of the mesh objects and interpolated states of them between the initial and final states. Based upon the constraints and interpolated states, a number of states for movement of the set of digital mesh objects is determined either collectively for the set or individually for each mesh object. The states can be used as digital setups for dental or orthodontic treatment planning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2019
    Publication date: February 24, 2022
    Inventors: Alexandra R. Cunliffe, Benjamin D. Zimmer, Guruprasad Somasundaram, Deepti Pachauri, Jonathan D. Gandrud, Arash Sangari, Shawna L. Thomas, Nancy M. Amato
  • Publication number: 20210259808
    Abstract: An automated method for generating a final setup for orthodontic treatment. The method includes receiving a digital 3D model of teeth in an initial state. The method computes a scoring function based upon metrics related to the initial state to generate a corresponding score, perturbs the state of the teeth through translations and rotations of a tooth or set of teeth to generate a perturbed state of the teeth, and updates the state of the teeth based upon the score and the perturbed state of the teeth to generate one or more final setups representing a final state of the teeth after the orthodontic treatment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Publication date: August 26, 2021
    Inventors: Nitsan Ben-Gal Nguyen, Benjamin D. Zimmer, Guruprasad Somasundaram, Alexandra R. Cunliffe, Brian J. Stankiewicz, Elisa J. Collins, David T. Maiden Mueller, Steven C. Demlow, Cody J. Olson, Muhammad J. Afridi, Nancy Amato, Shawna L. Thomas, Alexander Gutierrez, Arash Sangari, Jonathan D. Gandrud
  • Publication number: 20200229900
    Abstract: A method for generating digital setups for an orthodontic treatment path. The method includes receiving a digital 3D model of teeth, performing interproximal reduction (IPR) on the model and, after performing the IPR, generating an initial treatment path with stages including an initial setup, a final setup, and a plurality of intermediate setups. The method also includes computing IPR accessibility for each tooth at each stage of the initial treatment path, applying IPR throughout the initial treatment path based upon the computed IPR accessibility, and dividing the initial treatment path into steps of feasible motion of the teeth resulting in a final treatment path with setups corresponding with the steps. The setups can be used to make orthodontic appliances, such as clear tray aligners, for each stage of the treatment path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Alexandra R. Cunliffe, Benjamin D. Zimmer, Jonathan D. Gandrud, Guruprasad Somasundaram, Arash Sangari, Deepti Pachauri, Shawna L. Thomas, Nancy M. Amato