The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2001
Maryann Lehmann, Darien, CT (US);
Shade Analyzing Technologies, Inc., Darien, CT (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for determining a patient's tooth shade, by generating an electronic image of a patient's tooth wherein the image includes color information representative of the patient's tooth shade; electronically storing color information representative of a plurality of tooth shades; and comparing the color information of the image with the stored tooth shade color information to identify one or more tooth shades having a combined color that corresponds to the patient's tooth shade. Another method of the invention includes the steps of electronically imaging a patient's tooth to obtain an image that includes color information representative of the patient's tooth shade; electronically displaying the color information of the image; selecting one or more pixels of the displayed image, which pixels correspond to differential spatial locations of the patient's tooth, that provide color information; and electronically comparing the color information from the selected pixels with the stored tooth shade color information to determine the color of that portion of the patient's tooth. A device and handpiece for carrying out the method and the reconstructed tooth that is obtained are additional aspects of the invention.