Intra-oral 3D Scan

What it does

Intra-oral 3D Scan processes the triangle meshes produced by intra-oral scanners, the digital impressions behind orthodontic set-ups, clear aligners and restorations. Upload the upper jaw, the lower jaw or both; the run cleans each mesh, aligns it to the occlusal plane and labels every vertex as gingiva or as a numbered tooth.

The result is a segmented dentition with FDI numbers, a list of missing teeth, and dental landmarks on every tooth: cusp tips, mesial and distal contact points and facial axis points. Together they replace the manual step of cutting teeth apart and placing reference points before a set-up or a restoration can be designed.

Intended use

A processing step for digital dentistry: the clinician, orthodontist or dental technician gets separated, numbered teeth and reference points to start a design from, ready to open in their own planning or CAD software.

Who it is for

Orthodontists, aligner providers, restorative and prosthodontic dentists, dental laboratories and CAD technicians. Developers call the run from aligner-planning, CAD/CAM or model-analysis software to skip manual tooth segmentation.

Accepted input

• Mesh files: STL, PLY or OBJ exported from any intra-oral scanner, one file per jaw.
• DICOM: Surface Scan Mesh Storage objects carrying the same scans.
• Upper jaw, lower jaw or both in one request.

Preparation

Each jaw arrives as its own mesh, so every arch is numbered within its own FDI quadrants. Before segmentation, each mesh is cleaned and aligned to the occlusal plane, which puts scans from different scanners into the same orientation for numbering and landmark placement.

Optional context

The purpose of the scan (orthodontic set-up, aligners, restoration) and known missing or extracted teeth go in clinical_context, and they are kept with the result.

The result

A JSON result with the per-tooth labels and landmarks, plus the labelled meshes. Tooth labels can be returned in FDI, Universal or Palmer notation, to match the numbering of the receiving software.

Section	Content
Tooth segmentation	Per-vertex segmentation of gingiva and teeth with FDI labels, and the list of missing teeth
Dental landmarks	Per tooth: cusp tips, mesial and distal contact points and facial axis points as 3D coordinates
Draft report	Opt-in (options.report): an English narrative that interprets the result for the reader (findings, impression, limitations); every number is checked against the findings

Standards

• Tooth numbering: FDI two-digit notation (ISO 3950), with Universal and Palmer conversions.
• 3D objects: labelled meshes and DICOM Surface Segmentation of the teeth and gingiva.
• Measurements: landmark coordinates as 3D points in SR TID 1500 measurements.

Working with other models

The segmented scan pairs with Dental CBCT for prosthetically driven implant planning: the crowns come from the intra-oral scan, and bone and nerve canal from the CBCT and its implant-planning tool.