Tooth Library Data Structure

Introduction

This document describes the requirements for creating a tooth library which is compatible with Open Dental CAD tool and scripts. Open Dental CAD uses the standard .blend format for users to save "tooth libraries" for convenience in importing tooth forms into their CAD projects. In order to take maximum advantage of the operators and functions in ODC, it is important that the teeth are organized in a standardized format. The format is arbitrary, but it ensure consistency across all the tools which use imported tooth forms from a library. If you have suggestions or improvements, please feel free to leave comments on this page.

Objects

Each tooth should be an individual object in a .blend file and have a name which is meaningful. The objects can be positioned anywhere in the scene for easy visualization/editing

Orientation

• The local object origin should be approximately at the tooth center
• The local "Z" axis should always point toward the incisal (Blue arrow)
• The local "X" axis should always point toward the mesial (Red arrow)

In this short animation, notice how the red arrow always points toward the mid-line and the blue arrow always toward the incisal/occlusal. It is important that the object local axes are aligned this way.

Base Mesh and Vertex Groups

For now, it is best to use the existing ODC_tooth_libaray and modify it so that the "base mesh" is the same. Blender uses vertex groups to sort/store different parts of a mesh. Each tooth in the tooth library should have the following vertex groups. The object can have as many other groups as you want for any custom puroses, but to work with some of the bridging and contacts features, these must be present.

• Mesial Contact
• Distal Contact
• Mesial Connector
• Distal Connector
• Equator

Multires Modifier

For efficient manipulation of high detailed objects, Blender has a tool called the multiresolution modifier. It allwo for high resolution detailed meshes to be stored at several levels of definition. The standard for ODC tooth library is 3 levels of subdivision on the base meshes provided. In general, it is best to sculpt on each level, for example, define the overall shape at Level 0, then primary anatomy on Level 1, then 2ndary anatomy on Level 2, then fine details on level 3. This allows for the most flexibility.

Textures and Materials

Coming someday

Future Work

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