Dental Inlay and Onlay Construction by Iterative Laplacian Surface Editing

Abstract

We propose a new method for automatic construction of inlays and onlays. Mesh models from a small tooth library are adapted to the remaining healthy surface of the patient s tooth. In the area above the cavity, the general morphology of the model tooth (fissures, cusp tips, etc) is preserved, but precisely adjusted to the intra-oral situation. Our approach uses iterative Laplacian Surface Editing to deform the model tooth. This allows the automatic generation of highly individual, functional and anatomically correct inlays/onlays, without having to resort to a large library of different tooth shapes.