Patents by Inventor Veerle Wouters

Veerle Wouters 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).

  • Patent number: 11443494
    Abstract: A method is provided for obtaining an estimation of the shape, position and/or orientation of one or more existing teeth of a patient or of one or more teeth to be included in a dental restoration destined to replace one or more missing teeth in a partially edentulous patient. The method involves adapting a virtual teeth setup to the intra-oral anatomical situation of the patient, wherein said virtual teeth setup includes separated surface meshes of individual teeth positioned in a dental arch or segment thereof. The virtual teeth setup is adapted by optimizing an energy function, which represents a quality measure for said virtual teeth setup, and using a statistical model, which describes for a given dentition or segment thereof a probability distribution for at least the shapes of individual teeth, the relations between shapes of neighbouring teeth and/or relations between positions and/or orientations of neighbouring teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare Services AG
    Inventors: Johannes Keustermans, Pieter Van Leemput, Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans
  • Publication number: 20190147666
    Abstract: A method is provided for obtaining an estimation of the shape, position and/or orientation of one or more existing teeth of a patient or of one or more teeth to be included in a dental restoration destined to replace one or more missing teeth in a partially edentulous patient. The method involves adapting a virtual teeth setup to the intra-oral anatomical situation of the patient, wherein said virtual teeth setup includes separated surface meshes of individual teeth positioned in a dental arch or segment thereof. The virtual teeth setup is adapted by optimizing an energy function, which represents a quality measure for said virtual teeth setup, and using a statistical model, which describes for a given dentition or segment thereof a probability distribution for at least the shapes of individual teeth, the relations between shapes of neighbouring teeth and/or relations between positions and/or orientations of neighbouring teeth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Johannes Keustermans, Pieter Van Leemput, Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans
  • Patent number: 9931177
    Abstract: A method of producing a dental splint comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, and generating a support structure model in dependence on the 3D surface data, and producing the dental splint in dependence on the support structure model, wherein a 3D distance map image of the 3D surface data is used to generate the support structure model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare Services AG
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Patent number: 9877812
    Abstract: In embodiment of the invention provides a method of producing a dental splint comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, obtaining a support structure model describing a dental splint configured to fit to a portion of the surface of the patient's oral situation, modifying an apical edge of the support structure model in dependence on the 3D surface data, producing the dental splint in dependence on the modified support structure model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare Services AG
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Patent number: 9839497
    Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides a method of producing a surgical template comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, obtaining a support structure model describing a surgical template configured to fit to a portion of the surface of the patient's oral situation, obtaining planned bore position data, the planned implant position data describing the longitudinal axes of a set of one or more planned implant bore holes relative to the 3D surface data, automatically modifying the support structure model to provide support material for guide holes in the support structure model corresponding to the one or more planned implant bore holes, producing the dental splint in dependence on the modified support structure model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Nobel Biocare Services AG
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Publication number: 20160000532
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a surgical template arrangement (10) for a dental application, the surgical template arrangement comprising: a surgical template (12) including a through hole (18); and a guide sleeve (22) placed in the through hole and riveted to the surgical template. The present invention also relates to a method of attaching a guide sleeve (22) in a through hole (18) of a dental surgical template (12), and a corresponding system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Publication date: January 7, 2016
    Inventors: Ulf Johansson, Veerle Wouters, Pascal Kunz
  • Publication number: 20150245890
    Abstract: A method of producing a dental splint comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, and generating a support structure model in dependence on the 3D surface data, and producing the dental splint in dependence on the support structure model, wherein a 3D distance map image of the 3D surface data is used to generate the support structure model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Publication date: September 3, 2015
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Publication number: 20150238290
    Abstract: In embodiment of the invention provides a method of producing a dental splint comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, obtaining a support structure model describing a dental splint configured to fit to a portion of the surface of the patient's oral situation, modifying an apical edge of the support structure model in dependence on the 3D surface data, producing the dental splint in dependence on the modified support structure model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Publication number: 20150238289
    Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides a method of producing a surgical template comprising the steps of: obtaining a set of 3D surface data, the 3D surface data representing a surface of a patient's oral situation, obtaining a support structure model describing a surgical template configured to fit to a portion of the surface of the patient's oral situation, obtaining planned bore position data, the planned implant position data describing the longitudinal axes of a set of one or more planned implant bore holes relative to the 3D surface data, automatically modifying the support structure model to provide support material for guide holes in the support structure model corresponding to the one or more planned implant bore holes, producing the dental splint in dependence on the modified support structure model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Inventors: Veerle Wouters, Wouter Mollemans, Filip Schutyser, Pascal Kunz
  • Patent number: 8824764
    Abstract: A method for capturing the shape of a dento-maxillofacial object out of volumetric image data of the dento-maxillofacial object is described. The method includes performing a segmentation of the volumetric image data with at least one calculated segmentation parameter indicative of the distinction between the dento-maxillofacial object and its background and derived from a calibration procedure. The method further includes capturing the shape of the dento-maxillofacial object from the segmented volumetric image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Medicim N.V.
    Inventors: Wouter Mollemans, Veerle Wouters, Filip Schutyser
  • Publication number: 20120201443
    Abstract: A method for capturing the shape of a dento-maxillofacial object out of volumetric image data of the dento-maxillofacial object is described. The method includes performing a segmentation of the volumetric image data with at least one calculated segmentation parameter indicative of the distinction between the dento-maxillofacial object and its background and derived from a calibration procedure. The method further includes capturing the shape of the dento-maxillofacial object from the segmented volumetric image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: August 9, 2012
    Applicant: MEDICIM N.V.
    Inventors: Wouter Mollemans, Veerle Wouters, Filip Schutyser