Abstract: Positioning 3D virtual brackets on teeth for the precise positioning of conventional brackets and wire. Various reference features may be calculated for the teeth and used to calculate a position for the virtual bracket. Reference features that may be calculated include curve of Spee, Andrew's plane, and a facial axis of the clinical crown for the teeth.

Abstract: Methods of forming dental appliances. The methods may include partially curing a prepolymer mixture in a first mold to form a partially cured polymer mixture. The first mold may have an internal cavity that is shaped to provide the partially cured polymer mixture with a first shape having a channel in accordance with a dental arch. The first shape may have a greater thickness at locations corresponding to where a gingival line of the dental appliance will be formed compared to a thickness at occlusal surfaces of the dental appliance. The methods may include modifying the first shape of the partially cured polymer mixture to form a shell having cavities shaped to receive teeth. The methods may also include fully curing the shell by exposing the partially cured polymer mixture to energy until the partially cured polymer mixture thermosets.

Abstract: Methods and media for analyzing a patient's dental arches in order to generate a treatment plan for the dentition when the patient is missing one or more teeth. The methods and media can include indentifying one or more missing teeth, and estimating one or more dimensions of the one or more missing teeth.

Abstract: Embodiments are provided for digital dental modeling. One method embodiment includes receiving a three-dimensional data set including a first jaw and a second jaw of a three-dimensional digital dental model and receiving a two-dimensional data set corresponding to at least a portion of the first jaw and the second jaw. The method includes mapping two-dimensional data of the two-dimensional data set to the three-dimensional digital dental model by transforming a coordinate system of the two-dimensional data to a coordinate system of the three-dimensional data set. The method includes positioning the first jaw with respect to the second jaw based on the two-dimensional data mapped to the three-dimensional data set. The method includes using at least a portion of the two-dimensional data mapped to the three-dimensional data set as a target of movement of the first jaw with respect to the second jaw in the three-dimensional digital dental model.

Abstract: Dental appliances for preventing lisping. An aligner body is configured to apply orthodontic force to a patient's teeth within a dentition-receiving cavity to gradually align the patient's teeth. The dentition-receiving cavity includes a posterior teeth region having lateral walls configured to receive the patient's posterior teeth. The posterior teeth region includes occlusal cut-outs that are configured to expose occlusal surfaces of at least a portion of the patient's posterior teeth. The occlusal cut-outs allow opposing occlusal surfaces of the patient's posterior teeth to come close enough to touch each other while the device is worn over the dental arch of the patient to form an anterior seal between the patient's tongue and inner surfaces of the patient's anterior teeth in a manner as to minimize any temporary anterior bite opening, preventing lisping while the device is worn over the dental arch.

Abstract: Methods of forming dental tooth positioning appliances. Methods may include identifying a portion of a first digital model corresponding to a portion of the dentition for chemical treatment. Methods may also include forming a second digital model with a scaled up cavity by scaling up a size of a tooth of the first digital model. Methods may further include forming a polymeric shell including a scaled up cavity having dimensions that are proportional to a corresponding surface of the second digital model. The polymeric shell may further include one or more spacers that protrude from an inner surface of the scaled up cavity. The spacer(s) may be arranged to maintain a uniform space between the polymeric shell and the portion of the dentition identified for chemical treatment, and for holding a chemical for treating the identified portion of the dentition.

Abstract: A scanner for scanning a dental site comprises a base, a detector mounted to the base, and an optical element to redirect light reflected off of the dental site towards the detector along a detection axis in a first direction. Two or more flexures couple the optical element to the base, wherein the two or more flexures maintain an alignment of the optical element to the detector with changes in temperature.

Abstract: In embodiments set forth herein, an intraoral scanner comprises a body, a probe at one end of the body, the probe comprising a scanner head, a wireless communication module disposed within the body, one or more optical sensor, and a touchscreen disposed on the body. The one or more optical sensor is to receive light that enters the scanner head and generate intraoral scan data based on the light, wherein the wireless communication module is to wirelessly send the intraoral scan data to a first computing device. The touchscreen is configured to output a plurality of virtual buttons, detect a touch input associated with a virtual button of the plurality of virtual buttons, and provide a signal associated with the touch input of the virtual button to the first computing device.

Abstract: Dental attachment placement templates and dental appliance systems. The dental attachment placement templates may include a body configured to position a dental attachment over an attachment site on a surface of a tooth. The body may include an aperture, supports that extend from the body within the aperture, a connection member that connects the dental attachment to the supports, and a contoured surface shaped to register with one or more teeth. The connection member may be integrally formed with the dental attachment to provide a unitary structure. The connection member may be joined to the dental attachment at a breakable single point of connection and being further joined to the supports such that when the single point of connection is broken, the dental attachment is detached from the supports.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and/or computer-readable media described herein provide technical solutions to aid in the color matching of dental restorations. These systems, methods and/or computer readable media may receive a three-dimensional (3D) model of a tooth, where the 3D model includes a plurality of voxels, set each voxel to a starting optical property, and form a 3D visible light model from the 3D model by iteratively adjusting the optical property of each voxel based on optical properties measured from a scan of the tooth, where the 3D visible light model provides information to generate a color matched dental restoration.

Abstract: A virtual filler is inserted in a virtual model of a dental site between a first tooth and a second tooth in the virtual model. One or more of the first tooth or the second tooth represent a natural tooth of a patient. Points of the first tooth, the second tooth and the virtual filler are transformed into a voxel volume. A geometry of an updated virtual filler is determined by transforming a surface of the voxel volume into a polygonal mesh.

Abstract: Provided herein are systems and methods for detecting the eruption state (e.g., tooth type and/or eruption status) of a target tooth. A patient's dentition may be scanned and/or segmented. A target tooth may be identified. Dental features, principal component analysis (PCA) features, and/or other features may be extracted and compared to those of other teeth, such as those obtained through automated machine learning systems. A detector can identify and/or output the eruption state of the target tooth, such as whether the target tooth is a fully erupted primary tooth, a permanent partially erupted/un-erupted tooth, or a fully erupted permanent tooth.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described that mark and/or correct margin lines and/or other features of dental sites. In one example a three-dimensional model of a dental site is generated from intraoral scan data of the dental site, the three-dimensional model comprising a representation of a preparation tooth. An image of the preparation tooth is received or generated. Data from the image is processed using a trained machine learning model that has been trained to identify margin lines of preparation teeth, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs a probability map comprising, for each pixel in the image, a probability that the pixel depicts a margin line. The three-dimensional model of the dental site is then updated by marking the margin line on the representation of the preparation tooth based on the probability map.

Abstract: Methods of attaching a wire to a dentition. The methods may include placing a shell on the dentition, where first cavity of the shell includes an attachment material reservoir for receiving an attachment material, and second cavity of the shell includes a wire attachment member having a slot for receiving the wire. The methods may also include placing the wire through the attachment material reservoir and through the slot of the wire attachment member to hold the wire in position with respect to a tooth within the first cavity. The methods may further include placing the attachment material within the attachment material reservoir to bond the attachment material and the wire to the tooth. Once the shell and the wire attachment member are removed from the dentition, the wire remains attached to the tooth via the attachment material.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining a dental treatment difficulty in digital treatment planning. The methods may include calculating tooth position changes from an initial dental model to a target dental model in a mouth quadrant of a patient's dentition. The changes in position may be determined by projecting distances between initial positions and subsequent positions of teeth onto an arch line of the initial dental model. A treatment difficulty of anterior-posterior (A-P) correction may be determined for the mouth quadrant based on an average change in position, wherein a greater average change in position is associated with a higher treatment difficulty of A-P correction. The digital treatment plan may be adjusted so that a provider skill level meets or exceeds the treatment difficulty of A-P correction.

Abstract: Patterned dental positioning appliances including a shell including one or more cavities shaped to receive and exert repositioning forces on one or more teeth of a subject's dentition. An inner surface of at least a portion of the one or more cavities may include a raised mesh pattern arranged to contact one or more teeth within the at least a portion of the one or more cavities. The raised mesh pattern may be arranged to impart a contact force that affects one or more of a direction, a duration and a magnitude of the repositioning forces exerted on the one or more teeth. The raised mesh pattern may be is integrally formed with the shell and is made of the same polymer material as the shell.

Abstract: Palatal expander apparatuses for expanding a patient's palate (“palatal expanders”) and methods of making them. The apparatuses may include a pair of tooth engagement regions connected by a palatal region. A detachment region on at least one of the tooth engagement regions may be defined by one or more first vertical cut-out regions extending from a bottom of a buccal side toward an occlusal side of the tooth engagement region. The buccal side may be more flexible than the occlusal side so that the detachment region flexes when a removal force to release the palatal expander apparatus from the patient's palate is applied to the detachment region.

Abstract: The example systems, methods, and/or computer-readable media described herein help with design treatment plans for orthodontic treatments. Treatment templates expressed according to treatment domain-specific protocols may be processed to provide treatment planning software, including automated or real-time treatment planning software, that accommodates treatment preferences of a practitioner and/or patient data relevant to a treatment plan. These methods and systems may be also be useful for planning, designing and producing as series of dental appliances (e.g., aligners).

Abstract: Dental appliances, materials, and methods of forming such appliances and materials for improved laser marking are provided herein including the use of a particulate material for enhancing laser marking.