US 12,156,714 B2
Methods and systems for imaging removable dental appliances
Jun Sato, San Jose, CA (US); Allen Boronkay, San Jose, CA (US); Yaser Shanjani, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Reza Shirazi Aghjari, San Jose, CA (US); Avi Kopelman, Palo Alto, CA (US); Andrew Jang, San Mateo, CA (US); Jihua Cheng, San Jose, CA (US); Eric Kuo, San Jose, CA (US); Vladimir Shelbakh, Hayward, CA (US); and Bastien Pesenti, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 24, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/535,478.
Application 17/535,478 is a continuation of application No. 17/094,785, filed on Nov. 10, 2020, granted, now 11,185,233.
Application 17/094,785 is a continuation of application No. 16/683,255, filed on Nov. 13, 2019, granted, now 10,842,380, issued on Nov. 24, 2020.
Application 16/683,255 is a continuation of application No. 16/048,054, filed on Jul. 27, 2018, granted, now 10,517,482, issued on Dec. 31, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/537,937, filed on Jul. 27, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0079445 A1, Mar. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. G06T 7/73 (2017.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61C 7/00 (2006.01); A61C 7/08 (2006.01); A61C 7/10 (2006.01); A61C 9/00 (2006.01); A61C 13/00 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06T 15/08 (2011.01)
CPC A61B 5/0066 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0088 (2013.01); A61B 5/4547 (2013.01); A61B 5/4848 (2013.01); A61B 5/7257 (2013.01); A61B 5/7425 (2013.01); A61C 7/002 (2013.01); A61C 7/08 (2013.01); A61C 7/10 (2013.01); A61C 9/0053 (2013.01); A61C 13/0004 (2013.01); G06T 7/0014 (2013.01); G06T 7/75 (2017.01); G06T 15/08 (2013.01); A61B 2576/02 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30036 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, the method comprising:
receiving image data associated with both a patient's teeth and a removable dental appliance, wherein the image data was taken while the removable dental appliance was worn on the patient's teeth;
identifying, using the image data, one or more locations of undesirable contact between the removable dental appliance and the patient's teeth and/or one or more attachments on the patient's teeth, wherein the one or more locations of undesirable contact correlate with undesirable tooth movement compared to expected tooth movement according to a treatment plan;
displaying a three-dimensional (3D) model of the removable dental appliance and the patient's teeth on a user interface, wherein the identified one or more locations of undesirable contact are highlighted in the 3D model; and
emitting an alert via the user interface of the identified one or more locations of undesirable contact.