Analysis of the morphology of oral structures from 3-D co-ordinate data

A non-intrusive method is described which can be used to determine the forms of oral structures. It is based on the digitising of standard replicas with a co-ordinate-measuring machine. Supporting software permits a mathematical model of the surface to be reconstructed and visualised from captured three-dimensional co-ordinates. A series of surface data sets can be superposed into a common reference frame without the use of extrinsic markers, allowing changes in the shapes of oral structures to be quantified accurately over an extended period of time. The system has found numerous applications.