James R. Glidewell Dental Ceramics, Inc.

Methods for making natural-looking dental prosthesis that meet several aesthetic indicators are described, including precoloring methods, compositions, and kits for obtaining a natural-looking dental prosthesis. In one aspect, several different compositions are applied to certain surface areas of a dental prosthesis via a precolor pattern. Exemplary compositions include a colorant composition, an opaque composition, and an incisal composition. The colorant composition may include Zn, Al and at least one coloring agent. The opaque composition may include at least one opaquing agent. The incisal composition may include a Mg component.

A system and method include digitally determining a virtual insertion path of a digital dental restoration.

A computer-implemented method and system of CT reconstruction can include receiving one or more CT projection images; performing smooth filtering on the one or more CT projection images to generate one or more smooth boundary filtered images; and back-projecting the one or more smooth boundary filtered images.

A polymeric resin that includes a photocured reaction product of at least one urethane (meth)acrylate polymer that includes at least one polycarbonate unit; at least one monofunctional monomer; and at least one crosslinking agent.

A device includes one or more homogenous telecentric illuminators, a 3D digital scanner arranged to scan the physical object and provide a 3D scan of the physical object, a 2D digital image detector arranged to generate a 2D digital image of the physical object and an object platform arm arranged to translate and rotate the physical object. Calibration includes determining a 3D digital scanner transform, a 2D digital image transform, and a color calibration matrix. A method includes receiving a 3D digital model of a physical object, arranging the physical object in a plane of detection of a 2D digital image detector, illuminating at least the pre-marked best color determination region with a unique light wavelength, taking a 2D digital image of at least the pre-marked best color determination region at the unique light wavelength, repeating illuminating and taking a 2D digital image for multiple unique light wavelengths, and determining a spectral response for each pixel in the 2D digital image.

Yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic bodies with a composite system comprising two or more phases. The sintered yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic bodies have localized regions with different yttria concentrations within the composite system. These microregions containing varying yttria concentrations result in a non-uniform distribution of yttria ranges which individually contribute to localized characteristics that synergistically provide improved fracture toughness and machinability.

A dental appliance to reduce or eliminate snoring is disclosed. The dental appliance includes an upper tray, a lower tray, one or more tray-removal features, and a connecting arm. The upper tray includes a first coupling post located on a buccal surface of the upper tray. The lower tray includes a second coupling post located on a buccal surface of the lower tray. Each of the coupling posts includes a flange configured to pivotably and slidably secure the connecting arm and to release the connecting arm when the upper tray is rotated to a predetermined angle with respect to a closed position of the upper and lower trays. The one or more tray-removal features are disposed on the buccal or lingual surface of each of the upper and lower trays.

A computer-implemented method and system of determining a material surface from a volumetric density file includes generating a density frequency distribution of a volumetric density file of a dental impression and determining an iso-value of density between air and a particular material in the density frequency distribution. A computer-implemented method and system of creating a digital model from a CT scan of a physical dental impression includes selecting an iso-value of density for a digital volumetric density file having one or more voxels, generating one or more digital surface points in virtual 3D space for each of one or more voxels, and selecting a subset of digital surface points from the one or more digital surface points. A computer-implemented method and system of optimizing a digital surface includes moving one or more digital surface points to satisfy a criteria of optimum digital surface selection.

Disclosed are example embodiments of methods and systems for automatically coloring a dental prosthesis. One of the systems includes: a memory configured to store a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) file of the dental prosthesis; a holding apparatus for securing the dental prosthesis; one or more outlets for dispensing coloring fluid; an coloring fluid controller configured to control the one or more outlets to dispense coloring fluid at a preset size and frequency based at least on the CAM file; and a motion controller configured to move the holding apparatus or the one or more outlets based at least on the CAM file.

A computer-implemented method and system of automatically detecting and removing extraneous material from a digital dental impression includes detecting one or more dental features in a digital dental impression, filtering the one or more dental features, digitally joining the one or more dental features, and determining one or more regions of interest from the joined one or more digital dental features.