Abstract:
Method for determining a desired colour of a first segment for forming a portion of a set of teeth on a desired position within the set of teeth, wherein the method comprises:
determining the colour of at least a second segment within the set of teeth, characterised in that, the method further comprises:
determining the position of the at least second segment within the set of teeth; and determining the colour of the first segment according to a predetermined relationship between the colour and the position of the at least second segment and the desired position for the first segment.
Abstract:
A method for determining the appearance of an object to be replicated and an apparatus therefor are described herein. The method consists in providing a controlled illumination to illuminate a surface of the object, measuring the object with a CCD camera to collect an image map of a plurality of points on the surface and processing that information to produce an appearance mapping of the object. Calibration of the apparatus is done by measuring calibration patches illuminated with the same illumination. When the apparatus is done in view of replicating the color of an object, a comparison can be done by similarly producing an appearance mapping of the replicate and by comparing it to the appearance mapping of the object.
Abstract:
A patient's dental prosthesis (e.g., a prosthesis tooth, crown, veneer, or bridge) is made by acquiring an image (42) of the patient's teeth that contains black (54) and white (58) normalization references. These references are black, and white porcelain, for example, that allow software of the invention to determine absolute black and absolute white within the image. The image is then normalized in accordance with normalization references, which corrects the image for variations in lighting conditions and image source. The normalized image (60) is then standardized by matching the pixels of the normalized image (60) to selected shade standards (62). The dental prosthesis can then be manufactured by a lab technician by referring to the standardized image (66). The tooth shade analysis, and matching system is also applicable to direct restorations of natural teeth, such as repair of chipped or broken teeth.
Abstract:
Color/optical characteristics measuring systems and methods are disclosed. Perimeter receiver fiber optics/elements (7) are spaced apart from a central source fiber optic/element (5) and received light reflected from the surface of the object (20) is measured. Light from the perimeter fiber optics (7) pass to a variety of filters. The system utilizes the perimeter receiver fiber optics (7) to determine information regarding the height and angle of the probe (1) with respect to the object (20) being measured. Under processor control (20), the color measurement may be made at a predetermined height and angle. Various color spectral photometer arrangements are disclosed. Translucency, fluorescence, and/or surface texture data also may be obtained. Audio feedback may be provided to guide operator use of the system. The probe (1) may have a removable or shielded tip for contamination prevention.
Abstract:
A method and system for determining the color characteristic of a tooth (13), particularly in a mouth (15) in which restorative dentistry is contemplated, employs the photographic imaging (22) of the tooth of the patient, and the photographing of visually selected color standards (10, 11), to achieve the final selection of the closest color match. The resulting photographic images, which may be on a single photograph, are subjected to colorimetric or spectrophotometric analysis to achieve the final selection of the closest match. The system avoids the need to rely upon the visual color acuity of the practitioner in order to achieve a close color match for a prosthetic device. Additionally, the method and system of the invention avoid the problems associated with color shifts associated with photography, when such is used alone as the indicator of tooth color.
Abstract:
Color measuring systems and methods such as for determining the color or other characteristics of teeth are disclosed. Perimeter receiver fiber optics are spaced apart from a central source fiber optic and receive light reflected from the surface of the object/tooth being measured. Light from the perimeter fiber optics pass to a variety of filters. The system utilizes the perimeter receiver fiber optics to determine information regarding the height and angle of the probe with respect to the object/tooth being measured. Under processor control, the color measurement may be made at a predetermined height and angle. Various color spectral photometer arrangements are disclosed. Translucency, fluorescence and/or surface texture data also may be obtained. Audio feedback may be provided to guide operator use of the system. The probe may have a removable or shielded tip for contamination prevention. A method of producing dental prostheses based on measured data also is disclosed. Measured data also may be stored and/or organized is part of a patient data base.
Abstract:
A dental colour mixture indicator device is described. In an embodiment, the dental colour mixture indicator device (420) comprises four component indicator devices (400-403) each retained by a common base (410). Each component indicator device (400-403) has an array of colour samples (Y1-2, C1-3, R1-2) mounted to individual blades (430, 440-442, 450-452, 460-462), with each group of blades able to be plucked from the base (410) for the purposes of a comparison with a tooth. Each colour sample (Y1-2, C1-3, R1-2) corresponds with an artificial tooth material, and, on the basis of the comparison, a mixture of the respective tooth materials allows correct colour matching of a restorative tooth. The arrayed colour samples (Y1-2, C1-3, R1-2), coincide with a corresponding location on a colour co-ordinate system. The central colours (201) of each component indicator device (400-403) are offset from other ones of central colours with respect to the colour co-ordinate system. This means a fewer number of samples are required than in the prior art to encompass the whole body of tooth colour.
Abstract:
A method of computerised colour matching for articles where articles are photographed, using a still video camera, against a set of reference colours. The photographs are stored on a diskette (34) which is read on a recorder (54). The compouter (55) compares the set of reference colours against an absolute set of colours and generates a compensation factor which is applied to the photographed colours to produce a corrected photograph. Areas of the corrected photograph may be selected for computer enhancement and a computer generated map may be produced to enable the colour of other articles to be matched to the photographed articles.
Abstract:
The invention makes it possible to determine the colour to be given particularly to a dental prosthesis from the measurement of the colour of adjacent teeth in the mouth of the patient. An optical fiber instrument (44) senses the light reflected by a tooth (50) and transmits the light to the input of a spectrocolorimeter (12, 14) associated with a microprocessor (10) in order to determine the spectral reflectance diffused by the tooth and to calculate the trichromatic components of its apparent colours for various types of lighting. The invention applies particularly to the determination of colours of dental prostheses.